'Accidental' shooting at Zafarullah's rally
At least seven people, including a police official, were injured after a shotgun "accidentally" went off during a rally in Faridpur's Bhanga upazila yesterday.
There were different versions on whose gun it was.
Police said the gun belonged to a local Awami League leader but AL Presidium Member Kazi Zafarullah, who was the chief guest at the rally, claimed it was a police gun.
The incident took place around 8:30am when Zafarullah, also a former lawmaker from the area, went to the rally venue at Munshibari Kumpar Bazar after laying the foundation stone of a bridge there, police and witnesses said.
A shotgun belonging to Dipak Majumder, vice-president of Bhanga upazila AL, went off "accidentally". Seven people, including Officer-in-Charge Najmul Hasan of Bhanga Police Station, were injured by shotgun pellets, Superintendent Jamil Hassan of Faridpur police told our correspondent there.
The injured were rushed to Bhanga Upazila Health Complex. Later, six of them were shifted to Faridpur Medical College Hospital. They are Shahjahan Miah (50), Farhat Matubbar (60), Zamir Matubbar (60), Imarat Akand (55), Saheb Ali (48) and Sobhan Khan (65).
All of them were activists and supporters of the ruling party. Of the injured, Saheb received at least 20 pellets in his hands and legs; Farhat received seven in his hands and legs; Shahjahan in his left leg; Zamir in his left hand; Imarat in his chest, hands and legs; and Sobhan in the chest, throat and neck, according to hospital sources.
OC Najmul suffered injury in his nose and was released from the upazila health complex.
They all were sitting in the front row of the audience.
"Dipak's gun was licensed and he had brought it to the rally venue for his personal security," Harun-ar-Rashid, OC (Investigation) of Bhanga Police Station, told The Daily Star last night.
Despite several attempts, we could not reach Dipak. However, according to reports, he claimed that he was not even present at the rally and so, it was not possible that people would be hurt by his gun.
Kazi Hedayet Ullah, president of the ruling party's Bhanga upazila chapter, said Dipak was present there.
"Dipak was standing near the stage with his gun. He accidentally pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the ground first and then bounced away at the audience."
"It was simply an incident of misfire," he told The Daily Star.
Zafarullah, however, shifted the blame entirely on the policemen on duty there.
"A bullet went off from the gun of a policeman, who was on my protection duty. The bullet ricocheted off the ground and hit several people present there," he told The Daily Star over the phone in the evening.
"It was a mere accident," he added.
When this paper again contacted the Faridpur SP for his comments on this, he said: "I have already told that it was an accident. I have not enough time to talk to a newspaper twice." He then hung up without saying anything on Zafarullah's allegation.
Meanwhile, injured Imarat Hossain gave a different account of the incident.
"There had been a row over the location of the bridge. Soon after Zafarullah finished the stone-laying ceremony, two groups of villagers locked into a scuffle," he told our Faridpur correspondent.
"Zafarullah then intervened to pacify the mobs. After bringing the situation under control, he went to the rally venue and took his seat on the stage.
"At one point, I heard a gunshot and something hit my body," he added.
Zafarullah contested the 10th parliamentary election in the local constituency with the AL ticket but lost to rebel candidate Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury Nixon.
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