Belkuchi Correspondent

A case has been filed against former minister Abdul Latif Biswas in connection with the attack on the procession of 18-party alliance in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj district. The incident took place at about 11 years ago.

Filing the case after a decade has now become talk of the district. Not only that, former Fisheries and Livestock Minister Abdul Latif Biswas was made prime accused of the case, while former Mayor of Belkuchi Municipality and Jubo League leader Sajjadul Haque, Upazila Awami League General Secretary and Municipal Mayor Ashanur Biswas, Belkuchi Sadar UP Chairman and Awami League leader Solaiman Hossain, Daulatpur UP Chairman Lajuk Biswas and 55 other Awami League leaders and activists have been made accused as identified and 150 to 200 more people have also been made accused as unidentified and suspected in the case.

Abdul Halim, General Secretary of Ward 2 of Belkuchi Municipality, filed the case with Belkuchi Police Station at around 10:00 pm on Sunday night.

Belkuchi Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Zakaria Hossain confirmed the matter to the journalists and said, police have also started investigation in this regard just after registering the case.

According to the case brief, on November 27, 2013, the accused attacked a procession of an 18-party alliance, when it reached to the road in front of Sohagpur Girls’ School from Mukundagati area of ​​the municipal town.

At that time, a bomb was hurled targeting to the participants of the procession and it was exploded with a big bang. Three leaders and activists of the alliance were also injured seriously in the incident. As there was no atmosphere for filing any case with the police station due to political power of Awami League, it has been filed on Sunday night after a long wait.

Former minister Abdul Latif Biswas was sent to jail on Sunday afternoon as an accused in a case filed by the police on charge of killing 15 police personnel at Enayetpur police station in Chowhali upazila of the district on August 4 during uprising.

Earlier this, he was produced before a court by police and the court asked police to send him to jail after completion of hearing.

Earlier, on Sunday afternoon, joint forces arrested him from his residence in Kamarpara village of Belkuchi municipality conducting a raid. After the preliminary interrogation, the arrested was handed over to the DB police in Sirajganj.

Superintendent of Police in Sirajganj Faruk Hossain confirmed the matter to the journalists and said, he was sent to court as a suspected accused in a case filed by police on August 27 centering the killing of 15 policemen at Enayetpur police station on August 4.

On August 27, Sub-Inspector (SI) Abdul Malek filed the case against four Awami League leaders for the arson attack, vandalism and killing of 15 policemen at Enayetpur police station during the anti-discrimination students’ movement. In addition, five to six thousand other unidentified people were made accused in the case. The amount of damage from the incident has been mentioned in the case as Tk 4 crore.

The four accused of that case were Enayetpur thana Awami League president Ahmed Mostafa Khan (Bachchu), general secretary Azgar Ali, Shahjadpur upazila Khukni Union Parishad (UP) chairman and former union Awami League president Mulluk Chan and Bhangbari UP chairman Zahurul Islam Bhuiyan.

It is worth noting that Latif Biswas was elected as a member of parliament from Sirajganj-5 (Belkuchi-Chowhali) constituency in 1996 and 2008. After winning the 9th National Parliament election in 2008, he served as the Minister of Fisheries and Livestock in Sheikh Hasina’s second cabinet.

He was denied the nomination of the Awami League in January 5, 2014 election. Later, on January 8, 2015, Abdul Latif Biswas was elected president at the triennial conference of the district Awami League. In September 2022, he was appointed as the administrator of Sirajganj Zilla Parishad for the second time. He resigned from the post with the aim to contest as an independent candidate in the 12th National Parliament election.

Abdul Latif Biswas contested the January 7 parliamentary elections as an independent candidate with the Eagle symbol. He was defeated to an Awami League-backed candidate by a narrow margin.