A newly elected upazila chairman as well as a local leader of the ruling Awami League was shot and burnt alive by unidentified criminals in Academy area of the district town yesterday morning.
The victim is Ekramul Hoque Ekram, 47, a two-time elected chairman of Fulgazi upazila and president of Fulgazi upazila unit Awami League. The victim’s charred body was sent to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital for forensic report.
Witnesses said a gang of 20 masked criminals aged between 25 and 30 years ambushed Ekram’s car with spraying bullets in front of Bilasi Cinema Hall around 10:45am while he was on the way to the upazila headquarters from his Masterpara residence in the town.
Later, they torched the vehicle by pouring petrol. During the ambush, the assailants blasted several crude bombs to create panic.
Driver Mamun, weekly Feni Somachar Publisher and Editor Mahibullah Farhad and former Fulgazi union parishad chairman Mahi Uddin, who were on board the vehicle, managed to escape but received burn injuries.
They were later admitted to Feni Sadar Hospital in a critical condition.
However, Ekram got stuck inside the vehicle where he was burnt alive. On being informed, fire fighters and police rushed to the spot and recovered the body.
The killers were divided into two groups and ended their operation within 15 minutes, the sources continued, adding that although there were several hundred people there, no one dared to save the chairman.
Angered by the murder, supporters of Ekram vandalised shops and vehicles in town.
On information, police and RAB members arrived at the scene and brought the situation under control. A huge number of police, BGB and RAB members were deployed in the district to avert any further violence, said Feni Sadar ASP (circle) Shamsul Alam Sarker.
Around 1:30pm, local Awami League activists brought out a procession protesting the killing and put barricades on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and Parshuram road, stopping all vehicular movement for two hours.
About 4:30pm the angry protestors set the house of defeated BNP chairman candidate Mahtab Uddin Minar on fire.
Abdur Rahman, president of Feni district unit Awami League, said the killing was planned and he demanded the quick arrest of the killers.
The ASP said: “We are trying our best to track down the attackers.”
Nizamuddin Hazari, general secretary of Feni district unit Awami League, blamed Mahtab Uddin Minar for the gruesome killing and gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the authorities concerned to arrest the killers.
Contacted, Mahtab denied the allegation to the Dhaka Tribune over phone.
In a press conference, Zia Uddin Mister, general secretary of Feni district unit BNP, denounced the killing and demanded the criminals be promptly punished.
However, the slain chairman’s younger brother Ehsanul Haque said: “To my knowledge, my brother had no enemy and I am unaware of the reason behind his brutal killing.”
Nevertheless, the people of the upazila said, in the last upazila elections, Jahid Chowdhury assistant secretary of Fulgazi upazila unit
Awami League, extended support to Mahtab by withdrawing his nomination papers and since then Jahid and Ekram had been at odds with each other.
Feni Model police station OC (investigation) Abul Kalam Azad said the process of filing a case was underway although there was no formal complaint by the Ekram’s family at the time of filing this report.
However, a late night television report says Ekramul’s brother filed a case in connection with murder of his brother. BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Minar was made the key accused in the case.
Meanwhile, expressing resentment and condemning the brutal killing, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the law enforcement agencies to arrest the culprits.
President Abdul Hamid also condemned the killing.
