Ex-MPs Fazlul Karim, Nazma among 1,617 sued over Swechasebak Dal leader murder in Gopalganj

A case was filed on Tuesday (17 September) against 1,617 people, including former lawmaker Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and former reserved women's seat lawmaker Nazma Aktar, in connection with the killing of a central leader of the BNP's voluntary wing Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Swechhasebak Dal in Gopalganj last week.

Gopalganj Sadar Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Anisur Rahman confirmed the matter saying that they recorded the case as a political murder. The victim's wife Rabeya Rahman filed the case.

In the case, 117 people including former lawmakers Selim and Nazma were named and the rest were unnamed, he said.

Moreover, Gopalganj district unit of Awami League President Mahabub Ali Khan, General Secretary GM Shahabuddin Azam, and Kanthara Khan, daughter of former Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Muhammad Faruk Khan, among others, were mentioned in the case.

According to the case statement, on 13 September, the president of the Central Swechhasebak Dal, SM Jilani, was travelling in a convoy to his home in Gopalganj's Tungipara.

As Jilani's convoy was approaching Dola Petrol Pump in Patiala village of Gopalganj Sadar upazila, a group of Awami League militants, acting on a premeditated plan, attacked the convoy.

During the attack, Shawkat Ali Didar, Swecchasebak Dal's central sports affairs secretary, who was in one of the vehicles, was forcibly removed from the car and beaten to death with sticks and other weapons. His body was then left on the roadside.

The OC informed that they had already arrested 12 people as suspects and landed in jail through a court.