Jubo League leader shot dead in city

Assailants shot a Jubo League leader dead in the capital's Mohakhali area early yesterday.

Family members alleged that Kazi Rashed, 32, was killed by another leader of the the youth wing of Awami League, with whom he had a long-standing feud.

Police said there was evidence suggesting that Rashed was actually killed inside the Banani office of Jubo League and his body was dumped near his home. His home is 100 yards from the office.

“We have seen blood stains inside the Banani party office,” his mother Rabeya Begum told The Daily Star.

Residents of the neighbourhood spotted the bullet-hit body near his flat at Mohakhali around 5:30am and informed the police, Rafiqul Islam, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star.

He added that police reached the scene and sent the body to Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy.

Rashed's wife Kazi Mousumi said Rashed had enmity with Banani JL Joint Convener Yusuf Sardar Sohel over the last three years.

She told this correspondent that Sohel and Rashed were relatives and used to be good friends, but Rashed distanced himself from Sohel after he became an alcoholic.

Sohel was very bitter about it and “a conflict arose between them.”

She added that Sohel had beaten Rashed up on multiple occasions in the past three years.

Locals and other family members of the slain JL leader corroborated the account.

This correspondent tried to contact Sohel over the phone and visited his office and home, but failed to reach him.

Mousumi filed a case with Banani Police Station accusing Sohel and several others, said AC Rafiqul.

“We are conducting raids to arrest Sohel and his associates,” he added.

A number of locals and family members said Rashed and Sohel grew up together. They went to South Africa together and stayed there for six years after the BNP-led government assumed power in 2001.

On September 16, 2016, Sohel was arrested for shooting a rickshaw puller in the leg. He was released on bail three days later.

In 2012, Sohel was accused of shooting three JL men, including then JL general secretary Zakir Hossain of the area, on July 1 of that year.

Neighbours said Sohel and Rashed used to be the part of a group. But rifts arose within the group after they parted ways. 

This newspaper tried to communicate with the committee members of Banani Thana JL, but everyone declined to comment.