Police arrest former Habiganj-4 MP Barrister Suman

Rumours said Suman left the country around Aug 5 when the govt fell, but police have reported his arrest two and a half months later

Police have arrested former Habiganj-4 MP Barrister Syed Syedul Haque Suman as part of a broader crackdown on former ministers and MPs following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government on Aug 5.

He was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday from Dhaka, said Sub-inspector Mahmudunnabi of Mirpur Model Police Station.

However, he could not confirm which case Suman was arrested in.

Rumours said that Suman had left the country around Aug 5, when the Hasina government fell and many MPs and ministers fled. Now police say they have arrested him two and half months later.

For the time being, Suman has been kept at the Pallabi Police Station instead of the Mirpur Model Police Station, which was severely vandalised and torched on Aug 5.

"Mirpur Model Police Station officers arrested former parliamentarian Barrister Suman and kept him in the Pallabi Police Station,” said Pallabi Police Station chief Md Nazrul Islam.

Earlier, Barrister Suman posted a status and a video on Facebook.

”I’m going with the police. I will see you in court. Please keep me in your prayers,” he wrote in a post on his verified personal Facebook ID.

After the government changeover, Suman had claimed he did not leave the country despite having an opportunity to do so.

“I’m in Bangladesh, in Dhaka city. However, I’m not disclosing my location right now due to security concerns,” he said.

"I’ll work for the reform of the country if I’m provided with the opportunity. Cases are being filed against some people as part of this reform work, I started such initiatives earlier. I started the filing of such cases,” Suman said.

Suman said he spent his short stint as a parliamentarian working for the welfare of the people. He claimed to have never been engaged in illegal acts or accumulating wealth from illegal sources using his political power.

”As I’m a lawyer, I respect the law. If there’s a case against me, I’ll deal with it legally,” he said.

In the 12th general election, Suman was elected as the Habiganj-4 (Chunarughat and Madhabpur Upazila) MP.

He defeated Awami League ‘heavyweight’ candidate Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Md Mahbub Ali by 100,000 votes.

Barrister Suman, who would live-stream on Facebook about public welfare issues on social media, came to the limelight by appealing to the Anti-Corruption Commission to probe the ‘illegal wealth’ accumulated by former IGP Benazir Ahmed.

The barrister also filed a petition seeking an investigation against Abdus Salam Murshedy, former Khulna MP and ex-senior vice-president of Bangladesh Football Federation, or BFF, for occupying a house in Gulshan-2, an ‘abandoned asset.’