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Published : 06 Mar 2026, 08:29 PM
Local freedom fighters are venting their anger after a suspect in the murder of four freedom fighters has been named as the convenor of the newly formed committee of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad in Gopalganj’s Kotalipara Upazila.
They demand that the committee be abolished and the trial of the murder case be completed as soon as possible.
However, the suspect, Abul Kalam Daria, who is also a freedom fighter, denied any ties to the killings.
Freedom fighters Waliur Rahman Lebu, Kamalesh Bedagga, Bishnupad Karmakar and Ramprashad Chakrabarty were brutally killed while returning to Gopalganj town from Kotalipara on a boat on Mar 10, 1973.
Daria was named as the third suspect in the case filed with Kotalipara Police Station over the murders the next day.
A week ago, he was named the convenor of the convening committee of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad in the Upazila.
Lutfor Rahman Gonjor, a political colleague of slain freedom fighter Kamalesh, filed the case. The case is now being tried at a speedy trial tribunal after the plaintiff was changed.
Kamalesh’s daughter Sutapa Bedagga Sandhya, the new plaintiff, said: "As the daughter of a heroic freedom fighter, I feel ashamed that a murderer has been appointed as the convenor of the convening committee of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad.
“I strongly demand that this committee be dissolved soon."
Noting that Kamalesh was a Communist leader, she said he had contested from the Kotalipara constituency as a candidate of the NAP-Communist Party in the first parliamentary election in an independent Bangladesh.
"After the election, on the 10th of March, 1973, while returning to Gopalganj town by boat from Kotalipara, all the accused, led by Hemayet Uddin, brutally killed four freedom fighters, including my father,” added Sandhya.
Expressing her frustration over the decades-long trial in the case, she said 20 out of the 23 accused have already died.
“Perhaps the rest will die by the time the verdict is delivered. Then again, I want to see the judgment in my father’s murder case being announced.”
The other suspects are freedom fighter Hemayet Uddin, Fakruzzaman Sardar, Mir Delwar Hossain, Abul Hashem Daria, Mohon Sardar, Milan Sardar, Mojam Sardar, Kuti Miah Sardar, Shamsul Haq Miah, Nazir Ahmed, Fazar Ali, Abul Hossain, Noab Ali Miah, Zillur Mollah, Furu Miah, Farman Ali, Motaleb Mollah, Abu Bakkar, Mujibur Rahmanb, Mokbul Daria, Liakat Hossain and Yakub Ali.
Other than Daria, only Fakruzzaman and Milon are still alive.
Asked about the matter, Daria claimed his “innocence” and said: “I was not involved in the murder of the four freedom fighters. I was framed out of enmity.
“The real suspects in the case are no longer alive,” he added.
Regarding the objection involving the committee, he said: “It was formed with the consent of all members of the Upazila unit of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad.”
However, freedom fighter Abdul Mannan Sheikh said: “The committee was formed with a controversial person as its convenor overnight without informing us.
“We want it to be dissolved soon and a new convening committee be formed instead,” he said.
Brushing aside the allegation, Daria said: “It is not true that the committee was formed overnight.”
Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad’s district command council convenor, Firoz Khan, said the committee was formed in the presence of several freedom fighters.
“But I was unaware that Abul Kalam Daria is a murder suspect. We’ll chart out our course of action after discussing the matter with the office-bearers at the district unit convening committee of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad.”
