Police deny favouring him

Dismissing media reports and BNP's allegations, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) yesterday said they were not favouring an Awami League lawmaker's son, Bakhtiar Alam Rony, who is accused of shooting dead two people on the night of Pahela Baishakh in the capital.

Meanwhile, alluding to the murder, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu yesterday urged the administration not to be lenient towards the sons of ministers or lawmakers if they commit crime.

Addressing the press at DMP's media centre, Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said, "Bakhtiar is not being treated based on his social status or the identity of his parents."

Recent media reports say efforts are underway to save Bakhtiar, the son of AL MP Pinu Khan, and that police filed a statement with a Dhaka court without mentioning that Bakhtiar fired the shots and saying that Bakhtiar is influential and if he is freed on bail he may try to change the course of the police probe.

Bakhtiar fired four to five shots from his licensed pistol on April 14 around 1:30am, for what he said "feeling suffocated inside his car" stuck in traffic near Dilu Road, killing CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver Yakub Shikder and rickshaw-puller Abdul Hakim, detectives said.

Hakim's mother sued unnamed people on April 15, and Bakhtiar was arrested on May 31.

Monirul Islam denied there was pressure on them regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told journalists that the accused would face appropriate action if found guilty, irrespective of his political identity.

Talking to a private television channel, Bakhtiar's mother Pinu Khan, however, claimed her son to be innocent. "A certain section is trying to damage my reputation," she said.

'NO IMPUNITY'

Addressing an award ceremony at the Press Institute of Bangladesh (PIB), the information minister said if the allegation of giving impunity was raised, it would be a blemish for the administration and an embarrassment for the government.

Four journalists were awarded for reporting corruption, by PIB and the Anti-Corruption Commission with support from the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University.

Inu said the media would have to play its role honestly to prevent corruption.

"There are two types of corruption -- direct dealings with the corrupt people and giving impunity to them or overlooking their corruption," he said.

The awardees were Mujibur Rahman Masud, senior reporter of the daily Jugantor; Samima Sultana, staff reporter of Channel 24; Foysal Islam, senior staff reporter of the daily Gramer Kagoj; and Kamruzzaman Firoz, senior cameraperson of Maasranga Television.

BNP's ALLEGATIONS

BNP yesterday accused the government of trying to cover up the killing.

"A ruling party lawmaker's son is the hero of this killing. But police are trying to cover it up," BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon told the press at party's Nayaplatan headquarters.

Citing the recent rape of a policewoman in Dhaka, he claimed that the law and order situation was deteriorating.

ASSAULT ON BNP LEADER

Unidentified assailants physically assaulted BNP Assistant Organisational Secretary Abdus Salam Azad inside the Nayapaltan office yesterday.

He suffered injuries in the head and was treated in hospital.