Murder accused arrested at police HQ

A union parishad chairman was arrested yesterday at the police headquarters in Dhaka when he went there to meet a high official to lobby for avoiding arrest.
Shahbagh police arrested Abul Quashem, who is the chairman of Bashikpur union parishad and an Awami League leader of Laxmipur Sadar upazila.
He is accused in eight cases, including five murder cases, and had been on the run.
Quashem is also known as Jihadi for his radical religious views. He was once an activist of Jamaat-e-Islam.
An official of the Police Headquarter said Quashem went to the office of an additional inspector general of police around 3:00pm and tried to lobby for dropping the cases against him.
“At one stage, the police official contacted the SP of Laxmipur to enquire about Quashem and learned that he was accused of several murder cases and was absconding," the official told The Daily Star last night.
Shah Mizan Shafiur, the superintendent of police of Laxmipur, also told The Daily Star about Quashem's criminal records.
Mizan said Shahbagh police arrested Quashem and contacted them. Quashem was on the way to Laxmipur as of filing of this report at 12:30am today.