MP Amanur denied bail, sent to jail

A Tangail court yesterday sent ruling Awami League lawmaker Amanur Rahman Rana to jail after rejecting his bail petition in a case for killing freedom fighter Faruk Ahmed in 2013.

Having remained fugitive for over a year, the lawmaker from Tangail-3 (Ghatail) constituency surrendered before the court of First Additional District and Sessions Judge Abul Mansur Miah in the morning and pleaded for bail.

He later landed in Tangail district jail.

Amanur will now face trial in the murder case as the court had earlier fixed September 29 for hearing on the charge framing.

The lawmaker, however, was able to escape serious charges brought against him in 44 other cases.

These charges include murder, attempt to murder, extortion, grievous hurt, riot and unlawful assembly, according to his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission for the January 5, 2014 election.

Of the total 46 cases, eight to nine were withdrawn in 2013 after the AL government labelled those as “politically motivated”, said local police and sources close to the lawmaker.

Final reports were submitted in another 20 to 25 cases as police claimed they did not find any merit in those.

A few other cases were withdrawn on “mutual understanding”.

He is now only facing the Faruk murder case while the proceedings over another case were stayed by the High Court.

Faruk, former publicity secretary of district AL, was found shot dead near his College Para house in Tangail town on the night of January 18, 2013.

A charge-sheet in the case submitted by Tangail Detective Branch (DB) in February this year says Amanur and his family opposed Faruk's vying for the post of Tangail AL general secretary in 2012.

Amanur's brother Shahidur Rahman Khan Mukti was a contestant for the position.

After failing to persuade Faruk to quit the race, Amanur and his brothers assigned their accomplices to kill him, it says.

Yesterday, advocate Monirul Islam Khan appeared for the state while Abdul Baki, Faizur Rahman and Khandakar Faikuzzaman Nazib defended the accused.

Sources said Rana reached the court around 7:30am, several hours before the start of the day's activities, amid tight security and in the presence of a huge number of police and Rab members.

Faruk's widow Nahar Ahmed, plaintiff in the case, was present in the court and strongly opposed the bail prayer, terming the accused a killer.

She also rebuked advocate Faikuzzaman, her brother, for defending Amanur.

Later Faruk's followers led by Nahar brought out a procession and held a rally on the court premises. They chanted slogans against Amanur and demanded his punishment.

The involvement of Amanur and his three brothers in the killing came to light in August 2014 when investigators were interrogating two suspects -- Anisur Rahman Raja and Mohammad Ali.

Amanur and his brothers went into hiding after police mentioned their names as suspects in the case.

On January 21, 2013, Nahar filed the murder case with Tangail Model Police Station against unidentified criminals. The case was later shifted to Tangail DB.

CHARGE-SHEET

On February 3 this year, Investigation Officer Mahfeejur Rahman of Tangail DB submitted the charge-sheet, naming 14 people, including Amanur and his three brothers, before the Judicial Magistrate's Court.

His three brothers are Shahidur, former mayor of Tangail municipality; Jahidur Rahman Khan Kakon, former president of Tangail Chamber of Commerce, and Saniyat Khan Bappa, former vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League.

Investigators said the other 10 accused are their accomplices who played various roles in the murder.

They are Amanur's close aides Kabir Hossain, Samir and Farid Ahmed, his brothers' bodyguards Anisur Rahman Raja and Mohammad Ali, security guard Babu, Jubo League leaders Alamgir Hossain, Nasir Uddin, Sanowar Hossain and ex-municipality commissioner Masudur Rahman.

Raja, Mohammad Ali and Samir are in jail while Farid was released on bail last month. 

The rest are on the run, said police.

FAMILY CLAIM

Amanur's family, however, claims that he was in his constituency in Ghatail when Faruk was killed. And his two brothers Shahidur and Jahidur were abroad and another younger brother Bappa was in the district BCL office on that night.

The family alleged that a vested quarter in league with some unscrupulous law enforcers hatched a conspiracy to have the lawmaker and his brothers named in the case for personal gains and also to make Tangail AL weak.

THE CASE PROGRESS

On April 6 this year, the Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court in Tangail issued arrest warrants for Amanur and nine other fugitives. Judge Aminul Islam passed the order after accepting the charge-sheet.

On May 16, a senior judicial magistrate of the district ordered attachment of assets of Amanur, his three brothers and other fugitive accused.

Police on May 20 confiscated moveable assets of 10 fugitive accused, including the MP and his three brothers.

The Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court in Tangail on June 16 ordered publishing notices in newspapers, directing Amanur and other fugitives to appear before the court.

HE ENJOYED IMPUNITY

Amanur did not attend parliament sittings for over one and a half years.

The lawmaker turned up at the parliament's lobby on June 20 after remaining absent in 67 consecutive sittings of parliament.

He did the same last year. He entered the parliament lobby on July 5 and signed the attendance book after remaining absent for 65 consecutive sittings.

According to a constitutional provision, a lawmaker will lose his membership in parliament if he remains absent from the House for 90 consecutive sittings.  

He was elected uncontested in the January 5 parliamentary election in 2014. He won a by-election in 2012 from the same constituency.

[Our Tangail correspondent contributed to this report]