Students, locals, and police officers have expressed concern that some influential individuals linked to the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are manipulating the list of accused in cases filed over the deaths of students and ordinary people during the quota reform movement in Rangpur.
These individuals are linked to political parties and leverage their party’s power to control who gets named as an accused in these cases.
So far, cases have been filed over the deaths of three people, including Abu Sayed, a student of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, out of 11 fatalities.
Recently, a female leader of the district BNP, who is also a lawyer by profession, attempted to file a murder case for Abu Sayed's death. However, due to interference from some party leaders, she was unable to do so.
Meanwhile, several individuals, identifying themselves as BNP and Jamaat leaders, visited Abu Sayed's home and urged his family to include certain people as accused in the case they were planning to file.
Ultimately, a case was filed, but it was alleged that several key individuals involved in Abu Sayed's murder were not named.
It has also been alleged that the names of several officials from Begum Rokeya University, as well as a contractor, who were seen openly carrying weapons and attacking the anti-quota protesters during a march, have not been named in the case. The video of the incident has already gone viral on social media.
Additionally, locals claimed that the names of individuals who were not involved in the murder have been included in the case.
The murder case was filed in connection with the killing of Abu Sayed on Sunday.
Abu Sayed's elder brother Ramzan Ali filed the case with the court of Rangpur Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Raju Ahmed. Accepting the case, the judge directed the Tajhat police station to record the complaint as a case.
A total of 17 people, including former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former deputy inspector general (DIG) of Rangpur range Abdul Baten, former commissioner of Rangpur Metropolitan Police (RMP) Md Jahangir Alam, are accused in the case.
Suspended assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Amir Hossain and constable Sujan Chandra Roy were also named in the case.
On the same day, another murder case was filed against 40 individuals, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, in connection with the death of Abdullah-Al Tahir, a student of the Bangladesh Institute of Glass and Ceramics.
The case was filed in court by Tahir's father, Abdur Rahman, on Sunday afternoon.
Although the names of several RMP officers are included in the case, a senior police officer who was one of the key figures in suppressing the movement in Rangpur has not been named. It is reported that he went to great lengths to have his name excluded from the list.
On the other hand, there are allegations that the name of a police officer who was on leave during the incident has been made an accused.
On Monday, Ambia Khatun, the mother of slain fruit seller Meraj, filed a murder case naming 21 individuals.
Again, despite many RMP officers being named as accused in this case, the influential police officer who was previously involved in suppressing the movement managed to keep his name out of this case as well.
Several RMP officers, speaking anonymously, said that some of the key figures responsible for suppressing the movement were not named as accused in the murder cases that were being filed. They also said that some innocent people were named.
These officers have called for a thorough investigation to ensure that the real culprits are brought to justice.
