House of PM's cousins attacked in Khulna

The Khulna home of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s paternal cousins, MP Sheikh Helal Uddin and Sheikh Soheil, were attacked on the eve of Jamaat-e-Islami’s strike against its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami’s death sentence.

Khulna Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 Oct 2014, 05:35 AM
Updated : 30 Oct 2014, 08:45 AM

Police said assailants on two motorcycles shot several rounds at the house in Khulna city’s Sher-e-Bangla Road around 11pm Wednesday.

Sheikh Soheil, a director of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), was not at home. Four bullet marks were seen on the front gate and a wall.

Sonadanga Model Police OC Maruf Ahammed said four policemen in charge of the building’s security have been suspended.

"Five rounds were shot from an alley opposite to the house's main entrance," he told bdnews24.com.

According to the local Awami League, five masked men on two motorcycles fired at the house on Wednesday night.

"One bullet hit the office on the ground floor, another hit a wall inside, two struck at the gate, and police recovered a stray bullet," Khulna Metropolitan Juba League unit's Joint Secretary Hafez Md Shamim said.

No one was hurt in the firing, and neither Sheikh Sohel nor his other brother Sheikh Rubel were at home during the shooting, he said.

Senior officials of the Khulna Metropolitan Police, including Commissioner Nibash Chandra Majhi, visited the spot on Wednesday.

The house at the city's Sher-e-Bangla Road was originally built by Sheikh Abu Naser, younger brother of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

His sons, Sheikh Sohel and Sheiklh Rubel, currently live in the house.

Their other two brothers, MP Sheikh Helal Uddin and Sheikh Jewel live in Dhaka.

"We have been always a target of the anti-liberation forces. The firing is a consequence of that," said Sohel.

His father Sheikh Naser was killed on Aug 15, 1975, when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated with most members of his family.