Murder attempt on Sarwar Ali

Two criminals attempted to kill Liberation War Museum Trustee Dr Sarwar Ali at his home in the city’s Uttara on Sunday night.

Although Sarwar escaped unhurt, his wife Makhduma Nargis, daughter Sayma Ali, son-in-law Humayun Kabir and two of his neighbours sustained minor injuries in the incident.

Police detained the security guard of the building and a driver of one of the residents of the building for interrogation.

Sarwar said a militant group might have carried out the attack. He filed a case with Uttara Paschim Police Station last night.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, Sarwar said two bearded men, aged between 25 and 30, came to his daughter’s flat on the second floor of a building at Sector-7 of Uttara around 10:00pm Sunday.

“They looked for me and enquired about my whereabouts.”

He said one of the attackers came to his flat on the third floor. “As I opened the door, he [stranger] started threatening me. When my wife tried to shout for help, he tried to strangle her.”

In the meantime, his son-in-law scuffled with the other attacker and drove him out of their flat. He suffered minor injuries in the process.

Then his son-in-law shouted calling the two “robbers” and his daughter called 999, the national emergency helpline.

As the youths were escaping, two of Sarwar’s neighbours came out of their flats. They were hurt as they tried to catch the criminals.

The two attackers managed to escape.

Abul Kalam, officer-in-charge (investigation) of the police station, said they rushed to the flat on Sunday night after being informed about the incident.

Police found a schoolbag, left behind by the criminals, on the ground floor of the building. Seven machetes, a mobile phone set and an electric water heater were seized from the bag, the OC added.

“We found that security guard Md Nazmul had called the mobile phone [seized from the bag] 25 times.”

Sarwar said the criminals did not try to snatch money or any valuables.

“I think they were not robbers, but members of a militant outfit,” he said, adding that some other members of the group might have been waiting on the ground floor during that period.