Despite being abroad, former Bhanga mayor accused in police station attack case

Although currently in the US, Abu Fayez Md Reza, 67, former mayor of Bhanga municipality has been named as an accused in a case filed over the attack and vandalism at Bhanga Police Station on September 15.

During a demonstration against the re-demarcation of Faridpur-4 constituency, a group of protesters on Monday stormed and vandalised the police station.

The next night, Sub-inspector Azaduzzaman of Bhanga Police Station, who was on duty at the time, filed a case over the incident against 29 people, including former lawmaker Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury, popularly known as Nixon Chowdhury, as the prime accused.

Abu Fayez, a former mayor of Bhanga municipality and president of the local unit of Awami League, has been listed as the 18th accused.

Local sources said Fayez's wife and two sons live in the US. Fayez served as the mayor of Bhanga municipality for four terms between 2002 and 2024.

Samir Kanti Biswas, former secretary of Bhanga municipality, who retired in January, said Fayez continued serving as Bhanga mayor after the political changeover in August last year and remained in office until August 18, 2024. After stepping down, he stayed in Bhanga for about one and a half months before leaving for the US in October. He has not returned since.

The prime accused in the case, Nixon Chowdhury, is also abroad, his close associates confirmed. Following the filing of the case, Nixon released a video message saying that he was overseas.

Mohammad Ashraf Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bhanga Police Station, told reporters that they were verifying whether Abu Fayez was currently abroad.