Former railways minister Nurul Islam Sujan arrested in Dhaka

He faces charges in a case filed at Jatrabari Police Station

Nurul Islam Sujan, who was the railways minister in the 2018 Awami League government, has been arrested in a hospital in Dhaka.

He was detained by Jatrabari police from Bangladesh Specialised Hospital in Shyamoli on Monday.

Wari Division Deputy Commissioner Md Saleh Uddin said, “We arrested him in connection with a case filed at Jatrabari Police Station.”

This marks the third arrest of a former minister of the ousted Awami League government in the last three days.

Former public administration minister Farhad Hossain was arrested in Dhaka’s New Eskaton on Saturday night.

On Sunday night, former minister and actor Asaduzzaman Noor detained from his residence in the Nawratan Colony on Bailey Road, and former state minister for civil aviation and tourism Mahbub Ali was apprehended from Segunbagicha.

After Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on Aug 5, an interim government was formed three days later.

Since then, top Awami League leaders, including ministers and state ministers, as well as influential MPs, are being arrested one by one.

Among those arrested are former law minister Anisul Haq, former social welfare minister Dipu Moni, former ICT Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and former advisors Salman F Rahman and Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury.

The latest addition to the list is Sujan, who was elected from the Panchagarh-2 constituency in the 2018 elections and became the railways minister.

During the campaign, his wife singer Nilufar Yasmin passed away, and he remarried after assuming office.

Although he won a seat in the 2024 elections, he did not secure a ministerial position.

Sujon, a law graduate from Dhaka University, served as the science common room secretary of the Dhaka University Central Students' Union, or DUCSU, and was also the international affairs secretary of the central committee of the Bangladesh Chhatra League.

He later became the legal affairs secretary of the central committee of the Jubo League.

He was also the general secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association.