Liton Murder: Is it all about power?
Col (retd) Abdul Kader Khan, a suspect in MP Liton murder case, is neither a popular political figure nor a known face in his Gaibandha-1 constituency, which he lost to Liton in the 2014 election.
This parliamentary seat was once a stronghold of Jatiya Party when HM Ershad was in power, but over the years Jamaat-e-Islami made good grounds there, said political leaders of Gaibandha.
In the ninth parliament (2009-2014), Kader Khan, a medicine specialist, got elected as a JP candidate. However, in the January 5, 2014, election, he was defeated by Manzurul Islam Liton, who was shot dead in his Sundarganj home on December 31.
Local politicians say political rivalry between the two may have led to the killing.
Kader, 65, has not been in politics for long. After retiring from army in 2004, he joined the JP in 2008, just months before the December 29 election. He got JP ticket by “managing” party chief Ershad, and eventually went on to win the polls, said Aminul Islam Golap, politburo member of Bangladesh Workers Party.
Liton wanted to run in that election and even collected a party nomination form. In the end, however, Kader was nominated as the candidate of the grand alliance, which included the AL and the JP, said Sajedul Islam, adviser of the district AL.
Local JP leaders, who wanted Waheduzzaman Sarker as their candidate, were aggrieved at Kader's nomination. At the time, local AL leaders, including Liton, gave full support to Kader, in line with the party decision.
But after winning the race, Kader started to avoid Liton and other AL leaders, thus creating a distance between the two, Sajedul told The Daily Star yesterday.
In the 2014 elections, Kader lost to Liton by over 1,00,000 votes.
After arresting Kader on February 22 from his Bogra residence, police claimed that he “masterminded” the killing of Liton to become an MP again.
Police are now questioning Kader in custody.
Other arrestees are Kader's driver Abdul Hannan and caretakers Shaheen Mia and Mehedi Hasan. Kader was arrested based on information gleaned from them.
Police earlier said Kader lured them into the killing by offering them money and even had them trained on shooting firearms at a warehouse for six months.
Kader had collected a nomination form after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the by-polls in the seat that fell vacant after Liton's death. Law enforcers cordoned off his house soon after he collected the form.
Kader was so desperate to become an MP that he was also planning to kill JP candidate Shamim Haider Patwary who is contesting the March 22 by-polls, Khandker Golam Faruq, deputy inspector general of police of Rangpur range, told the media a day after Kader's arrest.
Abdur Rashid Sarkar, former lawmaker and also president of the district JP, said Kader's rise in politics was sudden. “After being becoming an MP, he never visited the district party office nor did he maintain any relations with the party leaders. He started doing everything all by himself.”
After the 2014 elections, Liton tried to discredit Kader in various ways, locals said.
Although from Gaibandha, Kader used to live in Bogra where he ran a private clinic.
Law enforcers and ruling party lawmakers initially blamed extremists for Liton's murder. But Kader's name came up in the course of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Atiar Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sundarganj Police Station in Gaibandha, yesterday said the name of a union-level AL leader also came up in the murder.