A BNP leader on Monday told International Crimes Tribunal-2 that his brother-in-law and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader Tipu Howlader was picked up from a relative’s house in Dhaka by men posing as Detective Branch (DB).
Shah Md Bakhtiar, a member of the Barishal district BNP convening committee and senior joint convener of Agailjhara upazila BNP, said Tipu was taken away on the decision of then Barishal-1 lawmaker Abul Hasanat Abdullah.
He said the incident took place on the night of 19 February 2015, when Tipu was taken away after refusing to quit BNP politics.
Bakhtiar was testifying in a case over the alleged killing of Tipu and another BNP activist, Kabir Molla, in 2015.
He told the tribunal that he and his family had been repeatedly threatened by people allegedly linked to Hasanat Abdullah after they refused to join the Awami League.
The threats, he said, included references to “crossfire” killings in different parts of Barishal.
“At one point, we could not stay in our locality and took shelter at relatives’ homes,” Bakhtiar testified.
Tipu taken from Dhaka
Bakhtiar said Tipu was taken from a relative’s residence in Dhaka on the night of 19 February by people who identified themselves as DB officers.
Tipu’s wife later called Bakhtiar and informed him that her husband had been taken away, he said. He advised her to contact the police.
Tipu’s wife and younger brother Murad Hossain Sohag subsequently went to Agailjhara Police Station seeking help but were allegedly turned away after being verbally abused by police, according to the witness.
The family then approached several local Awami League leaders for assistance.
Bakhtiar testified that Golam Mortuza Khan, Abdur Rais Serniabat, Shah Alam Dhala and Humayun Howlader told the family that Tipu had been picked up on Abdullah’s instructions.
They also said they could not help and reminded the family that they had been warned earlier, he said.
‘Killed in staged crossfire’
According to Bakhtiar, Tipu and Kabir were killed at around 2:30am on 20 February 2015, on the Agailjhara bypass road.
He described the incident as a staged “crossfire”.
When Tipu’s wife, his younger brother, local journalist Harun Rana and others went to the scene to collect the bodies, police allegedly refused to release them before post-mortem examinations, Bakhtiar said.
He said Tipu’s body was later taken home after the post-mortem.
Bakhtiar also testified that he wanted to return home for Tipu’s funeral but was warned against doing so by the same local Awami League leaders.
“They told me, ‘If you come home, the same fate will await you,’” he said.
He later learned from newspaper reports and local residents that two assistant sub-inspectors of Wazirpur Police Station-Jasim and possibly Mahabub or Motlob-had allegedly been brought in to carry out the “crossfire”, he testified.
Four accused
The case names four accused- former MP Abul Hasanat Abdullah, former Barishal superintendent of police AKM Ehsanullah, and former assistant sub-inspectors of Wazirpur Police Station Md Mahabul Islam and Md Jasim Uddin.
According to the prosecution, Mahabul Islam and Jasim Uddin are in custody, while Abdullah and Ehsanullah are absconding.
The prosecution submitted the formal charges before the tribunal on 1 April.
According to the charges, Tipu and Kabir were political opponents of Hasanat Abdullah. The prosecution alleges that after failing to counter them politically, Abdullah abused his position and conspired to have them killed.
It further alleges that Abdullah and Ehsanullah used subordinate police officers to kill the two men in a staged “crossfire” on the night of 21 February 2015, near the western side of the Boro Bridge on the Agailjhara bypass road along the Gournadi-Gopalganj highway.
Tipu was then the joint general secretary of Agailjhara thana Chhatra Dal, while Kabir was the organisational secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha in Agailjhara.
The allegations have not yet been adjudicated by the tribunal. Prosecutor Faruk Ahmed appeared for the prosecution.
