Arson Attack at Kamrangirchar

AL men force complainant to drop 6 names from case

10 April 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

Local Awami League leaders forced the complainant to drop names of six accused from the First Information Report (FIR) on Friday's arson attack at Kamrangirchar in the city, although they played a key role in setting fire to at least 25 business establishments. The six accused are either son or brother or close relatives of local AL leaders and activists, local people alleged. Complainant of the case businessman Mahbubur Rahman said around 100 local AL leaders and activists stormed Kamrangirchar Police Station when he went there to file the case at around 3:30pm on Friday. "In the police station, the local AL men almost snatched the draft FIR from the complainant and then deleted the names of six prime attackers out of the 18 accused," affected trader Mohammad Ali who witnessed the incident told this correspondent yesterday. Among the six, Saidul Matbar's name was on top of the list of accused in the draft FIR, but his name was dropped. Saidul is the brother of a Sultanganj union AL leader. The five others are Shaon, Mizan, Ali, Alam, Alamgir, Sumon and Shahidullah. The two businessmen also alleged that the AL leaders also included some other names in the case. But the police have been mysteriously silent at that time, said the two businessmen who went to the police station to file the case. Complainant Mahbubur Rahman also said that he had to wait at the police station for seven hours to sign the final case statement. When contacted, Officer-in-Charge of Kamrangirchar Police Station Shafiqul Islam Sikdar said both the complainant and the accused had a discussion among them and then submitted a written case statement.