The High Court (HC) yesterday rejected the bail petition filed by detained ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker Amanur Rahman Rana in connection with the case of the murder of freedom fighter Faruk Ahmed in 2013. An HC bench comprising Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique and Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury rejected the plea as it was not placed properly before it for hearing.
Senior lawyers Abdul Baset Majumder and Abdul Matin Khasru pleaded for the petitioner, while deputy attorney general Mosharraf Hossain Sardar appeared for the state.
On September 18, Rana, the lawmaker from Tangail-3, appeared before the Tangail additional district and sessions judge after being a fugitive for 22 months in connection with the case.
The court of Abul Monsur Mia, the first additional district sessions judge, had then sent him to jail after rejecting his bail plea. Faruk, the then AL publicity secretary of Tangail district unit and a freedom fighter, was shot dead on the night of January 18, 2013. Three days after the killing, Faruk’s wife Nahar Ahmed filed a case with Tangail model police station against unidentified criminals.Police initially investigated the case, but it was later shifted to the Tangail Detective Branch (DB) police.
Law enforcement personnel arrested Anisur in March 2014. During interrogation, he said Amanur and his three brothers were responsible for the murder.
The investigating officer in the Faruk murder case, Mahfeej Rehman Ghulam of the Tangail DB of the police, brought charges against 14 people, including Rana, at the judicial magistrate’s court. Apart from Rana, the other accused in the case are his three brothers, Shahidur Rahman Khan Mukti, Jahidur Rahman Khan Kakon, and Saniyat Khan Bappa; Rana’s aides Kabir Hossain, Babu Miah, Anisul Islam Raja, Mohammad Ali, Farid Miah and Samir Hossain; and former Jubo League leaders Alamgir Hossain Chan, Nasir Uddin Nuru, Sanwar Hossain and Masudur Rahman. Among them, Raja, Mohammad Ali, Samir Hossain and Farid Miah are in jail now. On May 16, a senior judicial magistrate’s court of the district issued arrest warrants against 10 fugitives, including Rana. The court also ordered confiscation of their properties. On May 20, police raided residences of the accused, but said they did not find anything to forfeit. Rana reportedly went to Parliament in June and signed the attendance book, although the police claimed that they could not find him and arrest the “absconding” lawmaker.