Narayanganj abductees found floating in the river, dead

Narayanganj City Corporation Councillor Nazrul Islam, senior lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarkar and four others, abducted three days ago, have been found dead.

Four of the bodies were found floating in the Shitalakhya River at Narayanganj’s Bandar Upazila at around 3pm Wednesday. Police found two more corpses later, around 6pm.

Nazrul was abducted on Sunday from the city’s Adalatparha along with four of his aides. Chandan Sarkar and his driver Md Ibrahim also went missing around the same time and place.

The other bodies are of the councillor’s aide Tajul Islam, Juba League activist Moniruzzaman Swapan, another aide Liton, also a Juba League activist and Chandan’s driver Ibrahim.

Nazrul’s car driver ‘Jahangir’ is still unaccounted for.

Bandar Police Station OC Aktar Morshed said the corpses had their hands and feet tied with bricks fastened to make them sink.

The councillor and his aides were travelling to Dhaka in a car after attending a hearing in a Narayanganj court.

The car was found abandoned at Rajendrapur, in Gazipur, that very night. A car carrying the senior Narayanganj laywer, Chandan Sarkar, 60, had left the court immediately after Nazrul’s departure.

Identifying the bodies

After the bodies were retrieved, Nazrul’s brother Abdus Salam identified his body by the Panjabi he was wearing on the spot.

The bodies were taken to Narayanganj Sadar Hospital for post mortem, where relatives identified the rest of the bodies.

Nazrul’s janaza prayers were held late at night at the City Corporation grounds.

Motive personal?

Nazrul’s wife Selina Islam Beauty had filed an abduction case naming Shiddhirganj Awami League Vice-President Nur Hossain and General Secretary Haji Md Yasin. Nur Hossain has told bdnews24.com he has no involvement in this crime.

State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has told reporters he has learned that the motive behind the murders was personal.

Beauty told reporters on Sunday that her husband had been protesting against Nur Hossain and Yasin’s land-grabbing, drug business and racketeering in the area.

“There were several attempts on his life because of these protests,” she said.

On the day of abduction, Nazrul had gone to the court to take bail in a case filed by Nur Hossain’s cousin ‘Mubarak’.

There are at least 15 cases in various police stations against Nazrul, including a double murder, and countless general diaries. He was given the death penalty for the murder of a lawyer in Dhaka but was acquitted by the High Court.

Protests erupt

Supporters of Nazrul blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong highway demanding that the killers be caught. They have been protesting every day since the abduction.

The protesters set fire to a filling station at Siddhirganj’s Mouchak owned by Yasin in the evening.

The vehicles on the highway were taking the route through Demra, Siddhirganj Police Station OC Abdul Matin told bdnews24.com.

Government moves

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina summoned State Minister Kamal to her official residence Ganabhaban and ordered him to arrest those involved in the abduction and murder.

In the morning, public administration ministry replaced Narayanganj's deputy commissioner (DC) Manoj Kanti Baral with Tangail's DC Md Anisur Rahman.

On Tuesday, the district’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Syed Nurul Islam, RAB-11 commanding officer (CO) Tarek Sayeed Mahmud and OC of Fatulla Police Station Aktar Hossain were removed.

A home ministry circular also banned black or tinted glasses on microbus starting from May 10. Such vehicles were used in several abductions in recent times.