Investigation ‘too slow’
It has been one long year. The body of Diaz Irfan Chowdhury, assistant secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) central committee, was mysteriously found hanging in his flat near Chittagong University campus on today's date.
Although an entire year has gone by, the family members of Diaz did not see much progress into the investigation of his death.
They alleged that the persons accused in the case for murdering Diaz have been roaming freely on the CU campus and making threats to them. But for inexplicable reasons, police do not arrest them.
Diaz was also a former joint secretary of Chittagong University unit BCL, a pro-Awami League student body.
Advocate Jubaida Sarwar Nipa, his sister, told The Daily Star, “Following a legal battle, a Chittagong court on October 23 ordered Hathazari police to treat our murder complaint as the case's First Information Report (FIR) and now the case is being investigated by officer-in-charge of Hathazari Police Station.”
“Diaz was murdered and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has proved it. But, the police did not arrest any of the accused till date and they [the accused] have been threatening us over filing of the case,” said the frustrated sister.
“We've already requested the Chittagong range deputy inspector general [of police] to speed up the investigation. We now seek the prime minister's intervention so the police can complete the investigation without any bias...”
At the CU, Diaz was known as a loyalist of AJM Nasir Uddin, the mayor of Chittagong City Corporation and secretary of Chittagong city Awami League.
The ten accused in the case, also known for being loyal to AJM Nasir, are former BCL president at CU Jamshedul Alam Chowdhury, sociology department teacher and former assistant proctor Anwar Hossain, BCL's CU unit president (suspended) Alamgir Tipu, his brother Arman Hossain, Rashedul Alam Jishan, Abu Torab Porash, Mansur Alam, Mizanur Rahman, Ariful Haque Opu and Abdul Malek.
On November 23, 2016, based on the report of the first post mortem conducted on the body at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, police purported Diaz's death as suicide by hanging.
The family members and fellow leaders however rejected the report saying that Diaz was murdered by an opponent BCL faction over tender manipulation.
Despite the allegations, Hathazari police filed an unnatural death case in this connection.
On November 24 in 2016, Diaz's mother Jaheda Amin Chowdhury, a CU employee, rejected the post mortem report and lodged a complaint with a court in Chittagong, accusing ten persons for her son's murder.
Following her plea, the court ordered Chittagong CID to investigate the complaint.
The family's speculation was proven right when in a second autopsy, performed on December 11 at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, it was found that Diaz was strangled to death.
This year, on August 7, when Assistant Superintendent of Police Humayun Kabir Sarkar of CID, also former investigation officer of the case, submitted the autopsy report before a court, he was asked by the court to take necessary steps so the accused cannot leave the country.
However, on September 13, Anwar Hossain, sub-inspector of Hathazari Police Station, submitted the final report in the case, saying that Diaz had committed suicide.
Later, on October 23 a court ordered Hathazari police to treat the complaint filed by Diaz mother as the FIR of the case.
Contacted, ASP Humayun of CID said, “Now the CID has nothing to do [with the case] as the case is being investigated by Hathazari Police Station.”
Speaking on the phone, Belal Md Jahangir -- OC of the police station and also the IO of the case -- said, “We just received the case and investigation is still underway.”
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