Upazila chairman aspirant abducted, beaten up
An upazila chairman candidate was abducted allegedly by his political rivals from in front of the Natore district election office in broad daylight yesterday afternoon and was beaten before being left in front of his home around an hour later.
Delwar Hossain, a chairman candidate in the upcoming Singra Upazila Parishad polls, suffered injuries to his head and legs, according to doctors.
Delwar's family accused his rival candidate Lutful Habib Rubel and his supporters of abduction and assault.
Rubel, joint general secretary of Singra upazila Awami League and a former chairman of Sherkol Union Parishad, is also a brother-in-law of State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
Police later went to Delwar's house and took him to Natore Sadar Hospital. From there, he was transferred to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for better treatment.
Roshan Ara, emergency medical officer at Natore Sadar Hospital, said, "The patient suffered injuries to his head. He was sent to Rajshahi so that a CT scan of his head could be done to find out if he had a brain haemorrhage."
According to sources, Delwar submitted the nomination form online and then went to the district election office to submit a copy of the form in person.
On his way back home, Antor Parvez Mohon, general secretary of Awami Swechasebak League's upazila unit, and also a supporter of Rubel, intercepted Delwar. The two had an altercation.
At one stage, several other supporters of Rubel reached the scene. They shoved Delwar on to a black microbus and drove away.
An hour later, they dropped off Delwar in front of his house.
Delwar's elder brother Emdadul Haque said, "Antor Parvez Mohon and his men abducted my brother from in front of the election office and tortured him."
Natore Superintendent of Police Md Tariqul Islam said they were examining CCTV footage to identify the culprits.
"Delwar and his family members are not cooperating in the investigation. They are not even willing to file a complaint with police," he said.
Asked about filing a complaint, Emdadul said they would think about it later.
Natore District Election Officer Abdul Latif Sheikh confirmed that Delwar submitted his nomination papers online.
"There was no need for Delwar to visit the election office. The Election Commission has been informed about the abduction and the local administration has been asked to take necessary action," said Latif, also the returning officer of Natore.
Contacted, Lutful Habib Rubel said he learnt about the abduction incident from media reports and that he did not know who was behind it.
The Daily Star could not reach Mohan for comments as his cellphone was found switched off.
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