Narayanganj 7-murder ‘accused’ AL leader Yasin sues slain councillor Nazrul’s family

Siddhirganj Awami League (AL) leader Yasin Mia has sued some members of slain Narayanganj City Corporation Councillor Nazrul Islam’s family and others, after police dropped his name from the chargesheet in the seven-murder case.

Nazrul’s wife Selina Islam Beauty had filed a case after her husband and six others were abducted on Apr 27 last year and murdered.
 
Thirty-five people, including former Narayanganj Ward-4 councillor and former Siddhirganj AL unit vice-president Nur Hossain, the same unit’s former general secretary Yasin and several former RAB officers were accused in the case.
 
Police, however, excluded five men, including Yasin, from the chargesheet submitted three months ago, nearly a year after the murders.
 
Yasin, who appeared in public after the chargesheet was filed on Apr 8, lodged two cases against Nazrul’s relatives and some of the victim’s followers at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court on July 28.
 
But the matter came to light on only on Thursday.
 
In the details of both cases, Yasin identified himself as the current general secretary of the ruling party’s Siddhirganj unit despite his expulsion after the murders.
 
Nazrul’s relatives accused in the two cases are his father-in-law Shahidul Islam, brother Abdus Salam, brothers-in-law ‘Saidul’ and ‘Mamun’, nephew ‘Rony’ and Shahidul’s relative Rafiqul Islam Mintu.
 
In the first case, Yasin alleged that the accused had met him at the Shams Filling Station, which he partially owns, around 5am on Apr 30 last year and demanded Tk 10 million as extortion money.
 
When refused, the accused broke the filling station’s cash box and the safe and looted Tk 2 million.
 
He alleged they also damaged equipment and torched Tk 5 million worth of octane, diesel and petrol.
 
In the second case, he alleged that the accused had attacked his Mijmiji Paschimparha residence around 8pm on May 1 last year, and looted Tk 1.5 million worth of jewellery and Tk 350,000 cash.
 
The attackers had also vandalised the house and set two rooms on fire, he alleged.
 
Besides the members of Nazrul’s family, Yasin also accused the former’s followers Kabir Hossain, Babul Mia, Md Ali and Rafiqul Islam Mintu in the second case.
 
The court accepted the cases and ordered Siddhirganj police to submit their investigation report by Aug 30, said Yasin’s lawyer Mohsin Ali.
 
After Nazrul Islam’s abduction, agitated local residents had attacked and vandalised Nur Hossain and Yasin’s business establishments and homes.
 
Regarding Yasin’s cases, Selina Islam Beauty told bdnews24.com: “Hossain dared to abduct the seven, murder them, and dump their bodies with Yasin’s help.”
 
“Enraged victims of Hossain and Yasin’s highhandedness, extortion, and acts of land-grabbing had attacked their establishments, where they held illegal gambling sessions and stored drugs. All that has been fully covered by the media,” she said.
 
Beauty, who now represents her late husband’s ward as the councillor, also alleged that Yasin threatened her and her family after returning home.
 
Yasin stated in his case details that he had returned home on July 8 after being excluded from the chargesheet filed in the seven-murder case.
 
Beauty said, “Thousands of people took to the streets that day against their illegal activities, but only the members of my family have been sued.”
 
She also alleged that two other men, Aminul Islam Raju and Iqbal Hossain, who were not named in the chargesheet, had threatened to kill her and her relatives.
 
Those responsible for the murders were now implicating the victim’s family and protesters by levelling false charges, she said.
 
Nazrul, senior lawyer Chandan Sarkar and five others were abducted from Dhaka-Naraynganj Link Road in Fatullah’s Lamaparha on Apr 27 last year.
 
Their bodies were found in the Shitalakhyya River a few days later.
 
Nazrul’s family had then claimed that Nur Hossain paid some local RAB officials Tk 60 million to abduct and murder the seven.
 
Beauty and Sarkar’s son-in-law Bijay Kumar Pal had later filed the two separate murder cases.
 
As investigations picked up pieces of evidence substantiating the accusation, the sensational incident led to a nationwide outcry.
 
Of the 35 accused in the cases, 22, including the former RAB officers, are already behind bars awaiting trial.