Case filed over TV show host murder

A case has been filed over the murder of Islami Front leader, TV show host Maulana Nurul Islam Farooqi.

His son Faisal Farooqi filed the case against about eight unidentified men at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station past midnight Thursday.

Meanwhile, police have questioned three eye-witnesses to the murder.

Farooqi, who hosted two programmes – ‘Shantir Pothe’ and ‘Kafela’ – on Channel I, was murdered at his own home in Dhaka.

He was a presidium member of Islami Front, connected with Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and also the Khatib of High Court Mazar mosque.

Police say miscreants tied up everyone at Farooqi’s residence before killing him on Wednesday night at his East Razabazar residence

His family says several youth had come to the house to talk over Hajj and killed him.

Farooqi lived on the second floor of the three-storey building at 147 East Razabazar.

Quoting Farooqi’s nephew ‘Maruf’, Mirpur Baitul Rashid Mosque Imam Ehsanul Haq said, “Two youths came to his house at around 8:30pm saying they would like to go on Hajj.

“Six or seven more people forcefully entered the house when the door was opened. They took out firearms and one of them said ‘give us the money you have’.

When Farooqi said he had around Tk 100,000 at home, they said this money would not do for so many of them.

Ehsanul Haq said the youths then tied Farooqi’s hands and legs with clothes in his bedroom and slaughtered him before leaving.

The victim’s wife, mother, nephew Maruf, and domestic help were at home. His eldest son Ahmed Reza Farooqi is in Saudi Arabia. His two other sons were not at home.

His younger son Faisal Farooqi saw his father’s body and informed everyone.

Police’s Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon zone) Biplob Kumar Sarkar told bdnews24.com: “We have brought at least three eyewitnesses at the police station and questioned them. They are not being quizzed as suspects rather they are helping us to investigate.”

The police officer, however, declined to reveal the identities of the witnesses.

“We are trying our best to make a breakthrough,” said Sarkar.

The victim’s son, Faisal Farooqi, had told reporters on Wednesday that at least two of the assailants had come to their home two days ago.

“The staff recognised two of them. Father told them to come on Wednesday. The men were armed with pistols and machetes (the second time they came),” he said.

Activists of Islami Front and Chhatra Sena staged protests on the Green Road near his residence immediately after the news spread. Agitators in Chittagong also vandalised several vehicles.