Farman also said there was a stay order from the High Court on the proceedings of the case
Family members of murdered millionaire businessman Jamal Uddin Chowdhury have alleged that former state minister for home Lutfuzzaman Babar received Tk3 crore as bribe from ex-MP Sarwar Jamal Nizam to suppress the case.
“Sarwar, who was arrested during the army-backed caretaker government, confessed in the taskforce interrogation cell that he had given three crore taka to Babar for suppressing the case relating to the abduction and killing of my father,” claimed Chowdhury Farman Reza, Jamal Uddin’s elder son.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday, Farman also said there was a stay order from the High Court on the proceedings of the case.
He added that if the trial were to begin, the role of the former BNP lawmaker and several other top leaders of the then ruling party would be revealed concerning his father’s abduction and killing.
“Now that BNP is not in power, I hope we can get justice now,”
Farman said, adding that although his father was a BNP leader, the family did not get any justice when the party was in power.
Jamal Uddin, the then senior vice president of BNP’s district (south) unit, was abducted as he was returning to his residence at Chandgaon from his Chawk Bazar office on July 13, 2003.
Jamal Uddin had competed thrice against Sarwar Jamal for the party nomination in parliamentary elections from Anwara, which may have led to his killing by his rivals, family sources said.
Nazma Akhter Khanam, Jamal Uddin’s widow, said they had been deprived of justice during the reign of BNP as several ministers got involved to save the real culprits.
She also called for a reinvestigation of the case to bring the killers to trial.
Farman Reza filed a case with Chandgaon police station on July 27, 2003 in connection with his father’s abduction. The businessman’s skeleton was recovered from a remote hilly area of Kanchan Nagar in Fatikchhari upazila in August 2005.
In July 2006, the investigating officer of the case, CID inspector Mohammed Anwar Hossain, submitted a charge-sheet accusing 16 people, including then union parishad chairmen Abul Kashem Chowdhury and Shahidul Islam.
The police arrested seven of the accused, while nine others, including the prime suspect, Abul Kashem, remained at large. The plaintiff of the case, however, filed a “discontent” petition against the charge-sheet as the alleged mastermind behind the heinous crime, ex-MP Sarwar Jamal and his brother, Maruf Nizam, were not named.
Jahedul Islam Talukdar, a lawyer for the family, said the masterminds behind the abduction and killing filed a petition with the High Court in 2007 through one of the accused, Sobhan, for staying the case proceedings. Thus, the trial proceedings have not started even after seven years, he added.
“The discontent petition against the charge-sheet will be heard whenever the court vacates the stay order,” the lawyer said.
He also asked for further investigation into the case to “unmask the faces of the masterminds”.
Of the charge-sheeted accused, only Shahidul Islam remains behind bars, Mahabub alias Kala Mahabub, who located Jamal’s skeleton, died in the prison, Shawkat and Mansur were killed in “crossfire” with law enforcers, while Sultan “Driver” was arrested from Cox’s Bazar on Sunday night. The other accused are still on the run.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
