& 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

MURDER IN FENI

3 more make confessions

Staff Correspondent
Three more arrestees before a Feni court yesterday admitted their involvement in the gruesome murder of Phulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haq.
Jahidul Islam Saikat, Sazzadul Islam Patwari Sifat and Shahjalal Shipon made depositions before Senior Judicial Magistrate Khairul Amin, said court sources. The court also placed two other arrestees Mir Hossain Swapan and lahidul Islam on two-day fresh remand each for quizzing further. The two were rounded up by the Rab.
Police yesterday produced the duo before the court upon completion of their five-day remand and sought 10-day fresh remand foreach ofthem.
Meanwhile, Awami League activists in Phulgazi under the banner of "Ekram Mancha" blocked the Phulgazi-Feni road at Munshirhat for about one hour yesterday when a group of party men tried to join a protest rally in Feni town.
They chanted slogans against Feni-2 AL lawmaker Nizam Hazari, blaming him for the killing.
Speaking as chief guest at the rally, Nizam claimed himself to be innocent. He said if the probe found his connection with the killing, he would be ready to court arrest.
The district AL held the rally demanding speedy trial of the perpetrators.
Phulgazi upazila AL also called a hartal for tomorrow demanding immediate arrest and punishment of the killers.
Earlier, four arrestees - Abidul Islam Abid, Kazi Shanan Mahmud, Chowdhury Nafiz Uddin Anik and
Helal Uddin - admitted their involvement in the killing mission before the same court.
All the seven were picked up by the Rapid Action Battalion from Helal's residence in the capital's Bashundhara onMay23.
Ekram, who was also president of Phulgazi upazila AL, was first shot and then burned alive in his car near the Bilashi Cinema in Feni town on May 20.
QUIZZING BY RAB
During primary interrogation, Saikat, a private university student in Dhaka, told the Rab that Jihad Chowdhury provided him with a pistol and ammo on May 19.
He claimed that during the killing attempt, he pulled the trigger of the pistol, but it did not work.
Jihad, a close aide to Nizam Hazari and joint general secretary of Phulgazi upazila AL, allegedly masterminded the killing.
Shipon, a BBA student at another private university, told the elite force that Jihad, councillor Shiblu and Mister, a bodyguard of Nizam, asked him to come to the stadium area on May 20.
He said the trio distributed firearms and sharp weapons among the assailants the night before the killing.
Sifat told the law enforcers that he
reached Bilashi Cinema area around 8:30am on May 20. He saw Abid, Saikat and Shanan shooting at Ekram.
Abid earlier confessed to the Rab that he shot Ekram from close range using a 7.62mm pistol supplied by Jihad.
Following the murder, Ekram's brother Rezaul Haq lodged a case with Feni Model Police Station accusing local BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar and 34 unnamed people.
Minar was arrested by the Detective Branch of police in the capital's cantonment area on Tuesday and later placed on an eight-day remand.