Asaduzzaman Noor sued for BNP leader’s murder in 2014
Former cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor and 41 other Awami League leaders and activists were sued in a case filed on Sunday over the murder of a BNP leader in Nilphamari in 2014.
The victim is Golam Rabbani, organising secretary of BNP's Lakshmichap union unit under Nilphamari Sadar upazila.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. His wife Shahnahaz Begum filed the case 10 years after the murder, saying she could not file the case all this time for fear of political reprisal.
The complaint was lodged with Nilphamari Senior Judicial Magistrate's Cognisance Court-1.
The court accepted the complaint and instructed Nilphamari Sadar police to record it as a first information report (FIR), said Nilphamari Sadar Police Station Inspector (Investigation) MR Saeed.
The accused include Nilphamari district unit Awami League President and former mayor Dewan Kamal Ahmed, the Awami League unit's General Secretary Momtazul Haque, and other senior party leaders. Some 1,000 unidentified individuals were also accused in the case.
The complaint mentions Noor as the prime accused, alleging that he instigated the murder.
According to the case statement, on December 13, 2013, Awami League activists stormed Rabbani's house with the intent to kill him following an attack on Noor's motorcade.
When Rabbani was not found, his family members were assaulted, and the house was set on fire.
On January 15, 2014, Rabbani was abducted from his home by men identifying themselves as detectives. Four days later, his body was discovered at a bamboo grove next to the Nilphamari-Domar road.
The plaintiff, Shahanaz, stated that she and her children had to go into hiding for several months following her husband's murder.
On December 14, 2013, BNP-Jamaat men attacked the convoy of Asaduzzaman Noor in Ramganj Haat area of Saidpur upazila while he was returning from a visit to the affected northern districts after atrocities caused by Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Five people, including four Awami League men, were killed in the attack. Noor narrowly escaped.
Police filed a case over the attack, and Golam Rabbani was the prime accused.
Around 60 BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists were arrested in this connection.
Noor, an acclaimed actor, was also named as the primary accused in a separate case filed on August 4 over vandalism, looting, and arson at various locations in Nilphamari, with allegations of ordering security forces to open fire with the intent to kill protesters.
On Sunday night, Noor was arrested from Bailey Road in the capital. He was produced before a court on Monday in connection with the Siam murder case filed at the Mirpur Model Police Station.
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