Bring BCL culprits to book, demand locals
Bring BCL culprits to book, demand locals
Several hundred villagers along with the local traders brought out a procession in the Patgram upazila headquarters on Tuesday, demanding exemplary punishment of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) men for their alleged involvement with the abduction of local rice trader Jahabul Islam in December 2013.
Meanwhile, a number of relatives of the victim and at least four journalists came under attack by a group of unruly BCL and Jubo League men while the procession was in progress at Mesirpar village.
The gang also harassed this correspondent and tried to snatch his camera from him. However, their bid was foiled by police.
Victim's wife Amina Begum said they had been passing their days amid fear for the last couple of months as the accused were giving them life threat asking to withdraw the case.
Earlier, Jahabul Islam, 32, was picked up by a gang, allegedly led by smuggler Israul Alam Bhuttu from his shop, in Mesirpar area on December 25 last year. Jahabul was putting pressure on Bhuttu to return Tk 1.5 lakh he borrowed from him months ago.
Jahabul's wife filed an abduction case with Patgram Police Station on December 27, accusing Bhuttu and a few unnamed people.
Following filing of the case, police in separate drives arrested Maruf Hossain, 32, general secretary of BCL Patgram union unit, Mir Rasel, former general secretary of the same unit, and Israul Alam Bhuttu, 48, from Mesirpar village of the upazila.