9 remanded for Ekramul murder
Investigators have got eight days to quiz each of nine suspects in the murder of Phulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haq in Feni.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel arrested eight of the defendants in the capital while the ninth surrendered to Feni police yesterday.
In preliminary interrogation by the elite force, most of the arrestees have confessed their involvement with the murder.
However, all the nine claimed themselves innocent at their remand hearing before a magistrate in Feni today.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Khairul Amin passed the order after Feni police produced the nine before his court with a 10-day remand prayer, said Inspector Abul Kalam Azad, also investigation officer of the case.
The accused are -- Abidul Islam Abid, Jahidul Islam Saikat, Chowdhury Md Nasir Uddin Anik, Kazi Shahnan Mahmud, Sajjadul Islam Patwari alias Shifat, Shahjalal Uddin Shipon and Helal Uddin, Jahid Hossain and Abdullahil Mahmud Shiblu, AL president of Feni municipality Ward- No. 5. Shiblu surrendered to Feni police yesterday while the others were picked up from the capital’s Bashundhara residential area.
According to Rab, Jihad Chowdhury, a close aide to Feni-2 Awami League lawmaker Nizam Hazari, along with Abidul Islam Abid and Sohel masterminded Tuesday's killing of Ekramul.
Abid, a cousin of Nizam, shot Ekramul twice from close range, Rab said at a press briefing at its headquarters yesterday.
Four others -- Kazi Shanan Mahmud, Jahidul Islam alias Saikat, Sajjadul Islam Patwari alias Sifat and Sunny -- followed Abid and opened fire, said Habibur Rahman, Rab media wing director.
Jihad, Sohel and Sunny are on the run.
According to the suspects' confession, Sohel, also known as "Ruti" Sohel, asked some of the attackers to set Ekram's car ablaze to ensure his death.
Intra-party feuds and rivalry over establishing supremacy in Phulgazi were the reasons behind the murder, Rab said.
The eight were taken to Feni yesterday.
Shiblu and Jihad oversaw the entire mission from some 30 yards away, Rab said, quoting Shanan, one of the arrestees.
The Bilashi cinema hall area where the killing took place is controlled by Shiblu, once a key member of Jainal Hazari's so-called steering committee.
He started to get closer to Nizam Hazari after the AL took office in 2009 and subsequently became president of ward-5 AL.
Ekramul, who was also president of Phulgazi AL, was shot and then burned alive in his car in broad daylight in Feni on Tuesday.
His driver and three other people in the car were injured, as the attackers stabbed them with sharp weapons and beat them up.
Ekram's rivalry with Jihad, joint general secretary of Phulgazi AL, intensified following the election of Anandapur union under Phulgazi upazila in 2011.
Jihad competed in the polls but lost to Harunur Rashid, whom Ekram backed.
Enraged, Jihad supported BNP-backed candidate Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, instead of supporting Ekram, in the upazila election early this year. Ekram, however, beat Mahtab.
Irked by Jihad's activities, Ekram had suspended him from the local AL committee. But his suspension was withdrawn in the face of pressure from Nizam Hazari, reports our Feni correspondent.
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