Seven people have been placed on a three-day remand over the death of a Jubo Dal leader who was allegedly beaten by bouncers and employees of Bliss Art Lounge, a bar in Dhaka’s Gulshan-1 area.
Police produced the accused before a Dhaka court on Thursday, seeking a seven-day remand for each. After the hearing, the court granted a three-day remand per person.
The incident took place on the night of 14 October when Jubo Dal leader and businessman Dabirul Islam, 51, was attacked in front of the bar.
Dabirul, who served as the organising secretary of the Badda Thana unit of Jubo Dal, later died from his injuries.
Following his death, his wife Nasrin Akter filed a murder case with Gulshan Police Station. Police later arrested seven suspects from Dhaka and Cumilla during separate drives.
The arrestees are the bar’s manager Shamim Ahmed, Raju Ahmed, Md Rakib, Md Kawsar, Rubel Mahmud, Plabon Mia, and a customer named Tofazzel Hossain.
According to the case statement, Dabirul was involved in land trading. Around 3am on 14 October, after finishing work, he went to Bliss Art Lounge Limited, located at Plot 51 in Gulshan-1. His family tried to contact him that night but found the bar closed.
In the early hours of the next morning, he was found lying behind a building on a road in Gulshan-1. He was rescued and admitted to a local hospital before being taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he died.
Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Hafizur Rahman said CCTV footage showed bar employees beating Dabirul after an argument with the manager, Shamim. “At one stage, Dabirul slapped Shamim, after which Shamim and several others beat him. When he fell to the ground, one person kicked him in the head. Later, they carried him away and dumped him on a nearby road,” the officer said.
He added that the bar was only permitted to sell local liquor, but foreign liquor was also being sold there.
A source said one of the five owners of Bliss Art Lounge Limited, Mamun Tajul Islam, is the brother of Department of Narcotics Control Inspector Sumonur Rahman, who is currently posted in Manikganj and previously served in the Gulshan zone.
Sumonur Rahman, however, denied any link, telling the Times of Bangladesh, “Mamun Tajul Islam, who is linked to the Gulshan bar, is not my own brother or my foster brother.”
He also said there is no rule preventing relatives of narcotics control officials from running a restaurant business and claimed he has no connection with the bar or the incident.
