& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Finger pointed at another Hazari

Row over tender, extortion seen as reason behind brutal murder in Feni

Rashidul Hasan and Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee from Feni
At least four of the assailants who took part in Tuesday's killing of Phulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haque are known to locals.
The four are Abid, Jahidul Islam Jahid, Ziaul Haq Mister and Sohel, eyewitnesses and Awami League leaders in Feni told The Daily Star yesterday.
But this newspaper could not independently verify their involvement.
Abid is a cousin of Feni-2 AL lawmaker Nizam Uddin
Hazari. Jahid is joint secretary of Phulgazi AL and Ziaul is a Jubo League leader of Feni municipality while Sohel is a local cadre, townspeople said.
These four allegedly led the group of30-35 attackers who shot Ekramul in
FROM PAGE 1
the chest and then set fire to his car around 11:00am on Tuesday in Feni. He died on the spot.
Four other people, including a local journalist and Ekram's driver, were injured as the attackers, some of whom were "hired professional killers," beat and stabbed them with sharp weapons inside the car.
Police are yet to identify the attackers or ascertain the motive, but some locals pointed the finger at Nizam Hazari, also general secretary of the districtAL
Interestingly, local BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury was named as the prime suspect in the case filed by Ekram's family.
Mahtab had contested in the March upazila polls from Phulgazi but lost to Ekram.
Ekram's brother Ziaul Haq Selim said he did not even know what was in the case against Mahtab and 35 other unnamed people. "My younger brother filed the case. And it was nothing but a formality. We don't know whose name was mentioned in it"
Contacted, his younger brother Rezaul Haq said Mahtab was named as per the decision of the district AL. "It was not our decision."
Ekramul was once a close aide of Nizam. But he became the lawmaker's archrival when he sought to run in the January 5 national election from Feni-1, which is next to Feni-2 from where Nizam got elected.
Ekram had to quit the polls race in the face of pressure from Nizam, locals and district AL leaders say.
The conflict between the two centred mainly on controlling tenders of various development projects in the district and extortion from different sectors.
Early this month, Nizam got furious with Ekram, who allegedly supplied to journalists documents that show Nizam had come out of jail through producing fake papers before the High Court
According to reports published in Bangla dailies Prothom Alo and Manabzamin on May 10, Nizam was given 10 years' jail sentence in an arms case in August 2000. But he came out of a Chittagong jail in December 2005 through forgery.
Several top AL leaders in the town said Nizam blamed Ekramul for the leak.
Their relations turned so sour over the leak that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina summoned them to Gono Bhaban to discuss the matter on May 17. But things did not improve, sources said.
But Ekram made more than one rival. Jahid, one of the alleged attackers, wanted to contest in the upazila polls, but failed due to strong opposition from Ekram.
Ekram, who was president of the upazila AL even suspended him from the party. Lawmaker Nizam later withdrew the suspension.
Sohel, another attacker identified
by the locals, used to work at a restaurant. He emerged as a notorious cadre under the wings of ward councillor Shiblu.
The Bilashi cinema hall area where the killing took place is controlled by Shiblu who, according locals, monitored the killingmission.
And Ziaul, the fourth assailant identified by eyewitnesses, attacked Ekram during the Upazila polls in Feni.
The Daily Star could not contact any ofthem fortheircomments.
Attempts were made also to contact Nizam Hazari over the phone, but he did not pick up the calls.
His family members gave conflicting information on his whereabouts.
After Ekram's namaz-e-janaza in Phulgazi, locals yesterday chanted slogans against Nizam, saying he was the mastermind behind the killing.
The upazila AL will enforce a daylong hartal today protesting the brutal murder.
Meanwhile, police on Tuesday night detained 15 people in connection with the case and seized a private car and two motorbikes from Feni sadar, suspecting they were used in the killing.
Most of the detainees are street vendors, hawkers, rickshaw pullers and hotel staff. Their families claimed they had no links to the murder.
Asked why they had been arrested, Mahbub Morshed, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station, said the police were interrogating them.