6 or 18? Or is it 22?

Six people have been accused in the cases filed in connection with the abduction and murder of city panel mayor and ward councillor Nazrul Islam.

But one might get the impression that as many as 22 people were involved with the gruesome murder if their eyes land on some of the posters stuck on the walls in the city.

All these posters demand punishment to the killers, but each accuses a different number of people.

One set of posters, publicised by a group of people who call themselves the “residents of Siddhirganj,” demands death sentence for 18 people and another poster demands the sentence for 22.

Another set, publicised by the Siddhirganj unit of the ruling Awami League’s youth front Jubo League, demands execution of six people accused in a case.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Initially, we wanted to accuse 13 people in the first information report including four RAB officials and three local residents…But the then OC [of Fatulla police station] and the SP erased those names.”

The final list of accused comprises Nur Hossain, Yasin Mia, Hasmat Ali Hashu, Anwar Ashique, Aminul Islam Raju and Iqbal Hossain, all of whom are now on the run.

There are allegations that police have been too slow to move, allowed Nur to flee the country, and now, as a window dressing, are confiscating his movable properties.

Shahidul said some of the names that they had “dropped” appeared in the posters.

However, the posters do not say anything about the RAB officers, whom Nazrul’s family wanted to mention in the FIR and who were later arrested for their alleged involvement with the abductions and murders.

Interestingly, the other 16 – all residents of Siddhirganj whose names appear on the posters – have “disappeared” as well.

Yasin in Singapore?

Yasin Mia, 55, general secretary of Siddhirganj unit Awami League, used to live in a luxurious house, which is now locked. Even the houses of his two brothers, who are contractors like him, are also locked.

An angry local mob vandalised Yasin’s house and his party office after Nazrul and six others had been abducted and killed.

They said he and his family had fled the area right after the abduction on April 27.

Wishing not to be named, Yasin’s relatives said he and his wife had gone to Singapore because they had already been planning to go there for his wife’s treatment and his brothers had gone for a vacation with their families.

Although Yasin was known to be very close to Nur, they said they had never seen Nur visit Yasin’s house.

However, his neighbours said ruling party MP Shamim Osman and Nur Hossain came to Yasin’s house a few months ago to attend the Qulkhwani of one of Yasin’s uncles.

“Nur Hossain came with a motorcade of some 15 microbuses and a contingent of 70-80 people,” a neighbour of Yasin said.

Many said although Yasin used to call himself a contractor, he was actually a broker for land and solved disputes for grabbers. Yasin and Nur flexed their political muscles to scare people to give up their land to grabbers for cheap prices, they alleged.

On February 1, Nur’s men vandalised shops in Mijmiji Chowdhurypara following a scuffle between Nazrul and Nur’s cousin Mobarak. According to witnesses, the gang went to the area to “teach Nazrul a lesson.”

The next day Nur visited the area, gave Yasin money as compensation and asked him to distribute the money among the affected shop-owners. Local residents said that was how much Nur trusted Yasin.

Nazrul’s father-in-law Shahidul alleged that Yasin was once the partner to many criminal activities in the area. “He even got commission from the earnings of various criminal groups. He owns a share of a CNG filling station at Mouchak. That was how he made a fortune.”

Is fugitive Hashu captured?

Hasmat Ali Hashu, 50, is one of the four brothers of Shahidul.

Interestingly, all of Shahidul’s brothers live in one building in Siddhirganj. Only Shahidul lives in a separate house.

The four brothers also own an apparel factory of which Shahidul is not a part.

These correspondents found the apartment that Hashu lived in with his wife and three children locked. His relatives in the other apartments in the building were unwilling to talk. The only thing they disclosed was that Hashu, along with his family, left the place after learning that his name had been included in the abduction case.

Among the six accused in the case, only Hashu was not involved with politics.

Shahidul said Hashu made money by manipulating tenders during the BNP’s rule when Giasuddin was a member of parliament from the party. He later became Nur’s treasurer.

“I was a contractor, but he never gave me any work. Instead, he gave all the work to Nur’s nexus,” Shahidul said.

‘Dangerous’ Ashique

Compared to the other accused, Ashique is a young man of 42. These correspondents found his modest tin-shed house in Siddhirganj locked.

Ashique and his three brothers are all men of little words. Two of them own separate tea stalls in the locality while the other owns a rickshaw garage.

Neighbours said they had not seen Ashique in the area since April 27, the day Nazrul and the six others had been abducted.

A local resident said Ashique was one of Nur’s gunmen and was seen in Mijmiji with Nur on February 1 carrying firearms in both hands.

According to his sister-in-law Roksana, Ashique was involved with the politics of BNP. “Taimur [top local BNP leader Taimur Alam Khandaker] is his leader,” she said.

Before joining the Awami League in 2000, Nur was also involved with BNP’s politics in Narayanganj.

Iqbal challenged Nazrul in polls

Iqbal Hossain, 36, who once used to work in his father’s grocery shop, now lives in a big luxurious house in Siddhirganj with his wife, mother and the family of one his brothers.

“He was not good with his studies,” said his 60-year-old mother Hazera Kahtun.

Neighbours said Iqbal was a poor man but somehow he got rich overnight.

His wife Shefali Akhter said Iqbal had been working as a broker of land. Three years ago he joined the BNP and contested for the local ward councillor post in 2011 city corporation poll and lost to Nazrul.

She said that was the reason why he was made one of the accused.

They think this was the reason of making Iqbal accused in the case. They also claimed that Iqbal did not even know Nur Hossain.

Shefali claimed: “He did not want to flee even after knowing that he had been made an accused. But our family members forced him to leave. Now we do not know where he is. We do not have contact with him.”

However, Shahidul said Iqbal was close to the circle of Nur, Yasin and Hashu. They backed him to stand against Nazrul in the election.

Raju in India

Nobody was around in the house of Aminul Islam Raju, 45, on Friday. He was the president of the local unit of Swechchhasebak League, volunteers’ wing of the ruling Awami League.

One of his uncles said he left school as an eighth or ninth grader.

His neighbours said he did not have a good reputation in the locality. He used his political connections and earned a lot of money through extortion and other illegal business. He was also a land broker.

Raju’s uncle Ohid Bhuiyan said Raju went to Singapore in 1991 and stayed there for about 12 years. After he came back, he started working as a contractor.

Ohid claimed that he met his nephew on the night of April 24 and the following night he left for India.

After Raju was made an accused in the abduction case, his parents, wife and brother locked the house and left.

Ohid also claimed that Raju had called him from India and said he had been doing some health check up there. He stopped contacting his uncle after he had learnt that he was made accused.

According to Shahidul, Raju used to do business as a contractor with Nur Hossain. Together, they had been known for doing a lot of tender manipulation.