Whip’s son threatened him for money: family

A businessman killed himself in port city on April 7, and his widow held a press conference in the capital yesterday, alleging involvement of the son of Awami League lawmaker and parliament whip Shamsul Haque Chowdhury.

The businessman, a banker by profession, Abdul Morshed Chowdhury, killed himself on the day he was supposed to make a payment to his investors, his widow Ishrat Jahan Chowdhury Julie told the press conference held at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

The whip's son Nazmul Karim Chowdhury Sharun was allegedly one of the people pressurising and threatening Morshed, resulting in his suicide, alleged Ishrat.

"He was supposed to pay Tk 2 crore to his investors on the day he died. He did not have the money but kept saying that he will manage," she said.

"I was at my parent's house, and my daughter was living with his father. On April 6, he dropped our daughter off with me saying that he will be too busy the next day to take care of her." 

The next day, around 10am, family members started receiving phone calls from Morshed's investors, searching for him, narrated Ishrat.

"His older brother, who lived in the same building, went to his room and found him hanging from the ceiling," she added.

He left a note stating that he was forced to pay more than he owed. "I'm now completely bankrupt, trying to pay off people who I did not owe any money," wrote Morshed in the note.

"Morshed had taken Tk 25 crore for different businesses from his cousins Javed Iqbal Chowdhury, Parvez Iqbal Chowdhury, and Syed Sakib Nayeem Uddin. He returned that, along with profits, giving back Tk 38 crore in total. We have the deposit slips as proof," said Ishrat.

But the brothers wanted more money -- Tk 12 crore more -- and that is where Nazmul Karim Sharun got involved, she alleged.

"He first began by calling my husband on his cellphone. When my husband pointed out that he did not have business relations with Sharun, he began to threaten him," she alleged.

She also alleged that in May 2019, Sharun and his men came to their house and tried to break down the door.

"Our guard informed us that Sharun was sitting in the car, while my husband's cousins attacked our front door. I was alone with my daughter in the house. They left when I told them that I am videoing them," said Ishrat.

A day after Morshed's death, Ishrat filed a case against the three cousins, along with Jubo League leader Shahidul Haq Chowdhury Rasel with Panchlaish Police Station. However, Sharun was not named.

When asked why Sharun was not named in the case, Ishrat said they did so out of fear.

Contacted yesterday, Sharun said, "This is media slander. Since I do politics, a lot of people come to me to try and mediate issues about money. I was just present at a community meeting. My name is not in the case. An industrial group with media interests is supporting this defamation."

He did not elaborate any further.

Meanwhile, Ishrat also alleged that Bijoy Basak, former deputy commissioner (north) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police, had held several meetings with Morshed and his investors to realise the money from him.

She provided a phone call recording to this correspondent where Basak was heard verbally abusing Morshed, calling him a cheat and a liar.

"The DC had multiple meetings with my husband and his investors over the years. I went with him once, but he mostly went alone," she said.

Asked, Basak had earlier told our Chattogram correspondent, "They had tried to file a case against him but the banker requested me not to take the case saying it will cause him to lose his job. That's why I tried to negotiate between them."

He did not want to comment about the phone call recording.