The prime suspect in the murder of Fulgazi chairman Ekramul Haque fled the country by crossing the border into India, allegedly with the help of the police, claimed local sources.
The suspect, Feni district Awami League Joint General Secretary Jahangir Mohammad Adel, crossed the border through the Bilunia point of the district’s Parshuram upazila last week, according to several sources in Feni. They also said local lawmaker Nizam Uddin Hazari helped Adel escape while local police assisted in exchange for a huge sum of money.
Ziaul Haque Jashim, elder brother of Ekram, told the Dhaka Tribune that Adel was helped to flee the country as his arrest would have revealed the connection of a top ruling party leader of Feni with the killing.
Jashim also expressed his suspicion that the investigation into his brother’s death might come to an end with the arrests of Jihad Chowdhury and BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar. He further urged for transferring the case to the Criminal Investigation Department and for not stopping the probe without tracing all the masterminds.
On May 20, a group of criminals killed Ekram by shooting and setting fire on his vehicle in front of witnesses at the Academy Road in Feni.
Following the incident, police have arrested 23 people including Jihad Chowdhury, an alleged mastermind and joint secretary of Fulgazi upazila AL unit, and BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, the alleged financier.
The name of Adel – a known associate of Feni 2 MP Nizam – has come up during the interrogations of Jihad and others arrestees, as well as from the analysis of mobile phone calls records.
Even after Adel’s connection with the crime came to the fore, he had allegedly been travelling out on the open until May 28; but disappeared after that day. He reportedly crossed the border through Bilunia, only 30km from Feni town.
Iqbal Reza Ripon, a ward councillor of Parshuram municipality, said many of the locals had seen Adel cross the border in the early hours of Thursday.
Asked how he managed to flee despite beefed up security, Ripon said there was no barricade at Talukpara area of Bilunia border and anyone could easily cross the border there.
There are also allegations that Kamal Uddin Majumdar, general secretary of Awami League’s Parshuram upazila unit, helped Adel escape as per a directive from Nizam.
Kamal, however, denied the claims, saying it would not have been possible for him to help Adel escape as he was not present in the area on Thursday.
Seeking anonymity, a leader from the district unit of Awami League, said the police were aware about Adel’s escape plan but remained silent because of an order from a top ruling party leader along with a large bribe.
Following the murder of Ekram, MP Nizam had been denying any involvement in the incident, claiming that anyone connected to the crime must face punishment, irrespective of their political allegiance.
Asked whether Adel had escaped through the Bilunia border, Border Guard Bangladesh’s Bilunia camp in-charge Subedar Tofazzel Hossain said they had no such information.
Paritosh Gosh, superintendent of police in Feni, also told the Dhaka Tribune that they had no information on whether Adel had fled the country. Letters with pictures of suspects Adel, Jiaul Alam Mister and Ruti Sohel have been sent to immigration police and the border areas for preventing the fugitives from leaving the country, he added.
The police were trying their best to arrest the criminals, Paritosh claimed. Replying to a query on whether the police was involved in any irregularity, he said any personnel found guilty of such allegation would face punitive action.
Following the murder, the role of the local police was also questioned as there was reportedly a police van parked near the crime scene which failed to respond timely.
Sources also said an intelligence report by the Special Branch had been sent to the Police Headquarters in Dhaka a few days before Ekram’s murder, mentioning that the Fulgazi chairman might be attacked by his rivals. However, no preventative action was reportedly taken.
Golam Morshed, officer-in-charge of Feni Model police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that no police official was on duty near the crime scene when the attack took place, adding that they rushed to scene as soon as they were notified.
Meanwhile, a Feni court yesterday placed Jihad Chowdhury on a fresh three-day remand, after a previous eight-day remand ended. Senior Judicial Magistrate Khairul Amin passed the order after the investigation officer Abul Kalam Azad sought a seven-day remand.
Another accused in the case, Belal Hossain, also gave his confessional statement to the court yesterday after he was placed before it following a five-day remand.
On the other hand, the Fulgazi unit of Awami League staged a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the upazila, protesting the killing of Ekram and demanding the trial of his killers. Traffic movement on the upazila’s streets remained halted during the hartal.
