Now squabbles over settlement money grips family

Some of the family members of four-year-old Jihad who died after falling into a deep well shaft on December 2014, in the capital's Shahjahanpur, are squabbling over the settlement money they had received and denying the agreement of withdrawing the case against the two accused.

Jihad's father, Nasiruddin Faquir, alleged of being threatened and that he signed a stamped paper out of fear and pressure; on the other hand his brother-in-law, Jihad's uncle, Monir Hossain, accused the father of backtracking from a deal they made with the two accused Jahangir Alam and Abdus Salam to withdraw the case in exchange for money.

A case was filed with Shahjahanpur Police Station against Salam, a contractor of SR House, for installing the deep well, and Jahangir Alam, senior sub-assistant engineer of Bangladesh Railway, for negligence in duty.

Nasir told this correspondent that Jahangir called him to the office of the local ward councilor (ward-11 of Dhaka South City Corporation) on February 9. Once inside, he found himself surrounded by many, including the two accused, a lawyer and his brother-in-law Monir. During the commotions and arguments, which went on for around two hours, and he, under duress, signed the document.

Nasir told The Daily Star that Monir had agreed to withdraw the case unbeknownst to him. "Salam, requested me to help him get bail. I was aware there was an agreement regarding that."

Councillor Hamidul Haque Shamim (ward-11) told The Daily Star that what Nasir said was false. "Two parties were discussing the deal for quite some time and Jihad's family agreed to withdraw the case," he said.

According to Monir, they have made a settlement for Tk 6.2 lakh and have already received Tk 4.2 lakh. "I gave my sister, Nasir's wife, Tk 2 lakh already and informed her about the settlement… but Jihad's father wants to backtrack from the deal."

When asked about the money, Nasir said, "My father died and I was in Shariatpur on February 5 for his burial, and came back on February 9, the same day they took me to the office to sign the paper. I had no knowledge about the dealings between my wife and her brother."

Salam said the money had changed hands to withdraw the case but now Nasir was backtracking.

On December 26 2014, four-year-old Jihad fell into the 300-foot well shaft while playing with other children around 4:00pm. He died within two hours into his fall and his body was recovered 23 hours later.