Journalist Rabbani murder: LGRD Ministry suspends accused UP chairman
UNB, Dhaka :
The Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry on Monday temporarily suspended Mahmudul Alam Babu, chairman of Sadhurpara union parishad (UP) in Bakshiganj upazila of Jamalpur district, in connection with the murder of journalist Golam Rabbani Nadim.
The ministry came up with the decision five days after the allegation of his involvement with the murder surfaced amid huge criticism across the country, said a media release signed by Md Hemayet Akbar Tipu, information and public relations officer of the ministry on Monday evening.
ministry also served a showcause notice to the suspended chairman seeking an explanation from him within next 10 days of receiving the letter, as to why he won’t be expelled permanently.
Earlier, the upazila chapter Awami League suspended him from the post of general secretary at the union unit.
On June 14, journalist Rabbani was returning home when he was attacked by an armed group in Bakshiganj upazila.
The assailants physically assaulted him before fleeing the scene, leaving him unconscious. He died at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital the following day.
Monira Begum, wife of slain journalist Nadim, filed a murder case against 22 identified people and 25 unidentified ones on Saturday.
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained chairman Babu and two others from Chilahati union of Debiganj upazila in Panchagarh district on Saturday.
The journalist’s wife Monira claimed that Rabbani had been subjected to various forms of harassment before the incident, and it was the chairman’s associates who carried out the killing.
She alleged that her husband was killed on the orders of UP chairman Mahmudul Alam Babu due to his news reporting.
Law enforcers have so far arrested 12 people including the suspended chairman Babu in connection with the murder.
A Jamalpur court on Sunday granted remand against all the arrestees for different periods.
Since the murder, journalists across the country have been demanding exemplary punishment of the killers.