A printing press owner arrested in Lakshmipur for producing illegal voting seals told a court on Thursday that he had acted on the instructions of a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, police said.
Police arrested Sohel Rana, 40, on Tuesday afternoon from Mariam Press on Old Court Road in Lakshmipur town and recovered six unauthorised voting seals. He is a resident of Tumchar Union in Sadar Upazila.
“Sohel Rana confessed in court that the seals were made at the instruction of Jamaat leader Saurav Hossain, also known as Sharif,” said Wahed Parvez, officer-in-charge of Lakshmipur Sadar Model Police Station.
“He said the order was placed through WhatsApp on 30 January, and the seals were produced accordingly,” he added.
Police said Saurav Hossain, 34, son of Md Shahjahan from Ward No 4 of the municipality, serves as a ward secretary of Jamaat and has been absconding since the incident came to light.
Investigators are now examining the seized seals and probing whether others were involved. “We are looking into the motive behind making the seals and any possible wider network,” Wahed Parvez said.
Police said a case has been filed against both Saurav and Sohel in connection with the incident.
Sohel, who is in custody, has been formally shown as arrested, and his statement has been recorded before a court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
After the matter became public, district Jamaat leaders said Saurav Hossain had been expelled from the party.
“We expelled him immediately after the incident,” said Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan, district Jamaat ameer and a candidate for Lakshmipur-2.
“He claimed the seals were made to ‘teach voters how to vote,’ but this was an irresponsible act,” he said, adding that the printing press owner was not a Jamaat member.
The incident prompted concern from BNP candidate Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie, who held a press conference later that day. Speaking at his main election office, he described the episode as part of what he alleged was a planned attempt at “election engineering”.
He also claimed that Sohel Rana was a Jamaat activist and may have held an organisational role.
After the BNP press conference, Jamaat held a press conference at the Lakshmipur Press Club around 10pm the same night. Rezaul Karim, Jamaat’s Dhaka City North secretary and candidate for the same seat, rejected the allegations.
“No Jamaat leader or activist is involved in this incident. This is a targeted campaign to create confusion and malign the party,” Karim said, calling for an impartial investigation and a halt to propaganda that could influence the polls.
