Former Dhaka-19 MP Muhammad Saiful Islam and 39 other Awami League leaders and activists have been accused in a case over the killing of schoolboy Ash-Sabur during student-led protests in Savar on August 5.
The 10th grader’s mother Rahen Jannat Ferdausi filed the case at Ashulia Police Station around 10:00pm last night.
The other accused include Ashulia Awami League President Farooq Hasan Tuhin, Pathalia Union Parishad Chairman Parvez Dewan, Ashulia Union Parishad Chairman Sahabuddin Madbar, Yapur Union Parishad Chairman Sumon Ahmed Bhuia, and Ashulia Jubo League Convener Kabir Hossain Sarkar.
This follows a separate case filed on Friday night by a man named Sahid Hasan alias Mithu, who claimed to be Ash-Sabur’s cousin.
Mithu’s case named 119 individuals, including former MP Saiful Islam who had been elected as an independent candidate in January’s polls.
However, inconsistencies have been found in the statements and accounts of events provided in the two cases.
According to Ferdausi’s case statement, Ash-Sabur went to Baipail to join the protest on August 5. The following day, around 5:00pm, his charred body was found at the Baipail intersection.
After the family retrieved his body and buried him in their native village in Noagaon, his mother claimed that the Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League leaders had beaten, shot, and burned her son to death.
Meanwhile, Mithu’s case states that Ash-Sabur had gone to a shop at Baipail around 11:00am on August 5. By 2:00pm, Mithu received news that Ash-Sabur’s mutilated body was found at the Baipail intersection.
When asked about the filing of two separate cases for the same incident, a official of Ashulia Police Station, requesting anonymity, said, “If someone wants to file a case, we have to accept it. We will investigate the incident and file an appropriate chargesheet.”
