Taking bribe 'promising AL nomination'

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested a leader of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) in Rajshahi's Durgapur upazila yesterday, allegedly over taking bribes from aspirants for Awami League (AL) nomination in the upcoming national election.

The arrestee was identified as Sazzad Ali, according to a Rab press release. A firearm was also recovered from his possession.

Sazzad is joint general secretary of BCL's Rajshahi district unit, said Merajul Islam, president of BCL's Rajshahi unit. 

According to Rab, Sazzad lured many aspirants promising them AL nominations ahead of the polls, and took large sums of money. 

He used the names of AL presidium member and Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, Assistant Press Secretary at PMO Afsar Siddiqui Bitu, and Assistant Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Saifuzzaman Shekhor to take money from the nomination seekers, the Rab press release added.

He also obtained money illegally from job seekers of different government offices including Bangladesh Railway and Bangladesh Police, it said.

Sazzad was found running campaigns for Mansur Rahman, a nomination seeker, witnesses and local BCL men alleged.

Contacted, Mansur Rahman, president of Rajshahi district Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad, a pro-AL body of doctors, refused the allegations and said Sazzad has been supporting him for last four years.

“His arrest is a conspiracy of my rivals,” Mansur Rahman, also the district AL unit's health affairs secretary, added.

Meanwhile, Merajul Islam, president of BCL's Rajshahi unit, said, “We requested the central committee to expel him after his arrest”.