Feni BNP leader Minar arrested
The Detective Branch (DB) of police yesterday arrested Feni BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, the lone named accused in the case filed for the brutal killing of Phulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque.
Also yesterday, Abidul Islam Abid, who, according to the Rab, shot Ekram from close range with a 7.62mm pistol provided by Jihad, admitted to his crime before a Feni court.
Convener of Feni unit Jatiyatabadi Tanti Dal, Minar was arrested from the capital's cantonment area in the afternoon, Paritosh Ghosh, superintendent of Feni police, said at a press briefing.
Minar contested the Phulgazi upazila polls last two times but lost to Ekram on both occasions.
In primary investigation, police have found evidence of Minar's involvement in the killing, Ghosh told The Daily Star over the phone last night.
A team of Feni police was taking Minar to Feni from Dhaka when this report was filed at 2:00am.
The SP also said police, in primary investigation, received information that Ekram had been murdered over a row between him and Jihad Chowdhury, also known as Jahid, centring on this year's upazila polls.
Jihad is a close aide of Feni-2 Awami League lawmaker Nizam Hazari, who is widely being blamed for the gruesome murder of Ekram on May 20.
According to local AL insiders, Ekram's rivalry with Jihad, joint general secretary of Phulgazi AL, intensified in 2011 when Ekram supported the rival candidate of Jihad in Anandapur union parishad election.
In retaliation, Jihad supported Minar, instead of Ekram, in this year's upazila polls.
Irked by this, Ekram, president of Phulgazi upazila AL, recommended his suspension from the party but it was withdrawn in the face of pressure from Nizam Hazari, general secretary of Feni district unit of the ruling party.
Supporters of Minar and Ekram locked in clashes surrounding the upazila polls, locals say.
Meanwhile, after his defeat in the upazila election, Minar started living in the capital, where he runs an apparel business.
Following the murder, Ekram's brother Rezaul Haq filed a case with Feni Model Police Station accusing Minar and 34 unnamed people.
Talking to The Daily Star at his Feni residence on May 22, Rezaul said the decision of naming Minar in the case was taken by the local AL, not his family.
Sources in the district AL said Nizam Hazari took the decision. Nizam, however, refuted the allegation.
Locals said Jahidul Islam Saikat, one of the eight people arrested by the Rab in connection with the killing, is a nephew of Minar.
Meanwhile, Abid narrated before Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Khairul Amin of Feni how the killing was executed in broad daylight on May 20.
The night before the murder, a meeting was held at Salam Community Centre in Feni town around 8:30pm.
He along with Jihad, “Ruti” Sohel, Bakkar, Sifat, Shipon, Anik and Shanan were in the meeting and ward councillor Shiblu joined at the last moment.
They initially decided to publicly humiliate Ekram.
However, around 11:30pm, he along with Bakkar, Jihad and Sohel held another meeting and came up with the decision of killing Ekram.
Quoting Abid, police sources said he knew 20-25 people would be in the killing mission. But the following morning, he saw around 60 people and most of them were unknown to him.
The whole gang split into smaller groups and took positions in four to five points. Abid, Shipon and Sifat positioned themselves on Afzal Rahman road.
Abid confessed that Jihad had sent three pistols to him in a bag through a relative.
While escaping after the killing, Abid saw Jihad and Shiblu standing in front of the latter's house.
Following the incident, Abid tried to reach his cousin Nizam Hazari over the phone but failed.
That night, Abid met Jihad at the rail station. Jihad told him that Minar had given him around Tk 1 lakh and gave Tk 20,000 to Abid, Sifat and Shipon. Then the trio headed for Dhaka the same night.
In another development, Feni police recovered a pistol, believed to have been used in Ekram murder, and four bullets from Jihad's office yesterday.
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