1 held over murder of Cox’s Bazar AL leader

Police claimed that an 18-year-old murdered Awami League leader Saif Uddin, 42, of Cox's Bazar after the leader tried to blackmail him with footage of them in a hotel.

The victim's family has rejected the police claim.

Suspect Ashraful Islam, 18, a madrasa student, was arrested around 11:00pm on Monday at Whykong Police outpost from a bus heading for Teknaf, Superintendent of Police Md Mahfuzul Islam said in a press briefing at his office yesterday evening.

Police on Monday recovered the body of Saif, relief and social welfare secretary of AL's Cox's Bazar municipality unit, from a hotel in Cox's Bazar town.

Quoting the arrestee, Mahfuzul said, "They [Saif and Ashraful] met on Sunday and went to room-208 of Hotel Sun Moon at the Holiday intersection. After spending some time there, they went out. Later Saif returned alone. An hour later, Saif called Ashraful and made him return to the hotel by threatening that he would release the video of them in the hotel room.

"Ashraful returned with a knife and engaged in a scuffle with Saif. Ashraful stabbed Saif indiscriminately. As he screamed, Ashraful gagged him with a bed sheet and tied up his hand with a belt. After confirming his death, Ashraful left on his motorcycle."

Saif's brother, Mohi Uddin Mohim, told The Daily Star that the notion that Ashraful alone killed his brother was not credible. "My brother's character has been assassinated to divert the probe into a planned murder orchestrated by an influential quarter," he said.