Former union chairman main accused

Armed criminals shot dead Abul Kashem, Abul Bashar and Badsha Alam, sons of Abdul Khaleque, at Charia Kazipara of Mirzapur union under Hathazari upazila.

Kazi Mafzal Ahmed, the eldest brother of the three killed, filed a murder case with the Hathazari Police Station accusing 18 persons with eight specific names on Monday night, police said.

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Mirzapur union former chairman Abul Kalam was made the prime accused followed by Shahjahan, Mohiuddin, Jamal, Nurul Alam, Osman, Abul Hossain Bhola and his son Sekandar.

Abul Hossain Bhola and his son Sekandar were arrested a few hours after the murders. They were produced before the court yesterday with a five-day remand prayer, Officer-in-charge (OC) of the Hathazari PS Mahfuz Alam said. But no further arrest could be made till yesterday.

Meantime, a police team led by Additional SP (north) Hasib Aziz raided some places in Hathazari yesterday.

A police camp manned by 25 cops was set up at Kazipara following the incident to maintain law and order, sources said.

Local people and police said the killing might have been a sequel to the long-standing enmity between Abdul Khaleque and Abul Kalam over land dispute and arrest of some criminals in recent days.

Hasib said Kalam had forcibly occupied some land owned by Khaleque a few months ago and built a brick kiln there, leading to filing of cases by both sides. Even on Monday a negotiation was scheduled to take place.

The three brothers had reportedly helped police arrest an alleged criminal, Alamgir, a nephew of Kalam, on April 5 this year.