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Court acquits former MP Rana and his three brothers in the 2013 case
Published : 02 Feb 2025, 04:05 PM
A Tangail court has sentenced two to life in prison and acquitted 10 others in a case over the murder of Awami League leader Faruk Ahmed almost 12 years ago.
The acquitted included former MP Amanur Rahman Khan Rana and three others from his family.
Tangail Additional District and Sessions Judge Md Mahmudul Hasan issued the verdict on Sunday.
Among those formally charged for the murder, only former Tangail Municipality mayor Sahidur Rahman Khan Mukti was present when the verdict was delivered.
Police produced him in court from prison as he was behind bars in another case.
Those handed down life imprisonment are Kabir Hossain and Mohammad Ali.
The acquitted from the same family are Rana himself, Mukti, Jahidur Rahman Khan Khan Kakon and Saniat Khan Bappa.
Apart from them, the court also acquitted Masudur Rahman, Farid Hossain, Nasir Uddin Nuru, Alamgir Hossain Chan, Sanowar Hossain, ‘Darwan Babu’, aka Dant Bhanga Babu.
Anisul Islam Raja and Samir Mia, two others named in the chargesheet in 2016, died in prison after the trial began.
Faruk Ahmed, a member of the Tangail District Committee of the Awami League, was shot dead on Jan 18, 2013.
Nahar Ahmed, Faruk’s wife,filed a murder case three days after the killing.
Later Nahar claimed that Faruk had been killed for his run for general secretary of the district Awami League committee and four brothers of the influential Khan family were involved in the killing.
The death of Awami League leader Shamsur Rahman Khan Shahjahan, Rana’s uncle who was a member of parliament, made way for the four brothers to leading positions of the Awami League.
During the investigation of the case, Anisul and Mohammad Ali provided testimonies in court, naming the four brothers in their statement.
Police formally charged 14 suspects, including Rana and his three brothers, in court on Feb 3, 2016.
The charge sheet mentioned that Rana’s associate Kabir had shot Faruk after he declined to withdraw from the race for district general secretary.
Later Anisul, Mohammed Ali, Abdul Haque, Samir, and Kabir disposed of the body near Faruk’s home as instructed by Rana, it added.
Rana was elected MP in the 2012 bypolls as an independent candidate. After receiving Awami League ticket in the 2014 election, he was elected unopposed.
Rana was district Awami League Secretary of Religious Affairs in Tangail once. After his arrest, the Awami League decided to expel Rana and his brothers from the party.
The trial in the case began by framing charges against the accused on Sept 6, 2017.
Following the mass uprising last July and the political changeover in the country, Rana went into hiding. Two of his brothers who were acquitted have been abroad since 2014, according to his close relatives.
Rana is accused in over 50 cases, including five murder charges. Mukti, his other brother, also has 40 cases against him, including five involving murder.
Jahidur and Bappa are accused in three and four murder cases, respectively.
