Shamim`s arrest demanded after he admits conversation with Nur

Staff Correspondent, DHAKA

Shamim Osman, the ruling Awami League lawmaker at Narayanganj,  admitted to having a phone conversation with Nur Hossain, the prime accused of the seven-murder in Narayanganj.

Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence in capital on Friday evening, Shamim however claimed that he had rather suggested Nur to surrender before court if he was not guilty.

Earlier, a phone conversation between Shamim Osman and Nur Hossain has been leaked. Private television channel Channel 24 broadcast the conversation on Friday.

The leaked telephonic conversation between Shamim Osman and Nur Hossain indicates that the ruling party lawmaker helped the latter to flee the country.

During the conversation, Shamim Osman had told Nur Hossain, “You don’t think so much. You will face no more problems now. Go ahead.”

Then, Shamim Osman again said, “I have sent information. Did you get that?”

At one point of the 103-second conversation, the AL lawmaker had instructed Nur to meet a man named “Gour Da”.
Shamim also wanted to know from Nur if he had any seal (may be passport). “Yes, yes. I have a seal. But how can I go. There is a red alert,” the suspected killer replied.

“No. There is no alert,” Shamim then assured Nur and suggested to meet ‘Gour Da’.

On April 27, Narayanganj panel mayor Nazrul Islam and his four aides -- Tajul, Liton, Swapan and Jahangir -- and senior lawyer Chandan Sarker and his driver Ibrahim were kidnapped separately, but around the same time after they came out of the court area in two cars.

Six bodies were found floating in the Shitalakkhya river three days later and another the next day.

Nur Hossain, vice-president of Siddhirganj thana Awami League unit, and his five associates have been made accused in the case filed by Nazrul`s widow Selina Islam.

“I repeatedly told Nur Hossain to surrender before the court if he was not guilty. But Nur Hossain did not accept what I suggested. I did not suggest him to flee, rather I suggested him to surrender,” following the leaked conversation, Shamim Osman on Friday said newsmen.

He described how he had tried to get Nazrul back after he was abducted along with six other persons.

He claimed that a former senior official threatened him saying “If we are not saved, you will not be saved.”

“I should give up politics as I could not save the lives of my fellows, as one after another of my activists have been killed,” Shamim said.

Mentioning that his life is under threat, the ruling party lawmaker begged help from the media.

He also expressed anxiety over the security of Rafiur Rabbi`s life.

Rabbi, father of murdered teenager Tanvir Mohammad Toki, will contest in the Narayanganj-5 by-polls scheduled to be held on June 26.

“If Rafiur Rabbi disappears, people will accuse me for that,” Shamim said demanding the protection for Rabbi.

He also called for judicial enquiry into the Toki murder case.

Meanwhile, alleging that Shamim Osman was involved in the sensational seven murders Santras Nirmul Toki Manch demanded his immediate arrest.

“The recorded conversations between Shamim Osman and Nur Hossain over the brutal killings of seven people, including Narayanganj city ward councillor Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Kumar Sarker, have been released through the investigating agency. We came to know through newspaper reports that Shamim Osman had hands in the killing,” Manch convener Rafiur Rabbi and its member secretary Halim Azad said in a joint statement.

risingbd/May 23, 2014/Rakib/Augustin Sujan