Abu 'Murder': Police still clueless
Police were still clueless about the death of BNP nomination seeker Abu Bakar Abu whose body was found floating in the Buriganga on Monday, a day after he went missing from the capital's Bijoynagar area.
“An unnatural death case was filed on Monday as there was no injury mark on the body. We don't know how the body came to the river,” Shah Zaman, officer-in-charge of South Keraniganj Police Station, told The Daily Star.
The OC said they were waiting for the autopsy report from Sir Salimullah Medical College. Police found no belongings along with the body of Abu Bakar, also vice president of Jashore district BNP.
Sources at the medical college said police handed over the body to the BNP leader's family around 4:30am yesterday. He was buried at his family graveyard in Jashore's Keshabpur in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda yesterday said he would ask the law enforcement agencies to bring those involved in the incident to justice.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader at a press briefing at the party president's Dhanmondi office said the “killing” of Abu Bakar might be a result of the BNP's internal feud.
He said his party was not involved in the incident. “In no way the Awami League wants to keep the BNP away from the national election.”
Earlier on Thursday night, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that Abu Bakar, a four-time chairman of Majidpur Union Parishad in Keshabpur upazila, was killed after he was picked up by law enforcers from the capital.
Abu Bakar was on the list of the five BNP nomination seekers that the party gave to the Election Commission on Wednesday saying they were detained by law enforcers.
Talking to journalists in Jashore on Thursday, Abu Bakar's nephew Ashikuzzaman said his uncle came to the capital last week to collect a nomination form for contesting the December 30 parliamentary polls from Jashore-6.
He was “abducted” from the capital's Bijoynagar area around 8:30pm on Sunday, a day before he was supposed to be interviewed by the BNP's nomination board, according to the family and local party leaders.
As per the abductors' demand, relatives gave them Tk 1.7 lakh, but yet they killed him, Ashikuzzaman said.
Abu Bakar was staying at room-413 of the Metropolitan Hotel in Paltan area. The hotel's CCTV footage showed that the BNP leader left the hotel around 7:30pm on Sunday with two bags, said Abdul Mannan, manager of the hotel.