The government has suspended Abbas Ali, the mayor of the Katakhali Municipality Corporation in Rajshahi, following his arrest over a controversial audio recording in which he is heard making derogatory comments on a mural depicting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
His suspension was announced in a notice issued by the Local Government and Rural Development Department on Wednesday.
He had previously been served a notice seeking an explanation of his comments on Nov 25, but he did not reply to it. As many as 12 municipality councillors later raised a ‘no confidence’ motion against Abbas and demanded his removal from the mayoral post.
After the audio recording of Abbas’s remarks went viral, a case was filed under the Digital Security Act with Boalia Model Police Station against him.
The Rapid Action Battalion later arrested him at the Hotel Razmoni Ishakha in Dhaka’s Kakrail in connection with the case.
“He went into hiding on Nov 23 and stayed at different hotels in Dhaka. RAB detectives learned of his whereabouts when he shifted to the Hotel Razmoni Ishakha,” Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB’s media wing, had said.
Abbas was carrying his passport and had plans to leave the country, according to Commander Al Moin.
In its notice, the LGRD ministry cited Abbas’ absence from work following his arrest, depriving the municipality staff and the common people of his services in the process, as the reason for the suspension.
A mayor for consecutive two terms, Abbas Ali has been the convener of the Katakhali wing of the ruling Awami League.
But the Awami League also removed him from the post of convener as well as from its Rajshahi District Committee after the audio recording surfaced.
The proposed plan to build a mural of Bangabandhu at the Rajshahi City Gate is ‘inappropriate according to Islamic Shariah law’ and he would be ‘committing a sin’ if he allowed the construction, Abbas Ali is heard saying in the recording, which went viral on social media in the second week of November.
Abbas’s remarks sparked major controversy in Rajshahi.
A section of the local Awami League demanded his removal, while Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said Abbas had committed a ‘punishable offence’ by making such comments.
At least three Digital Security Act cases were filed against him with Rajpara, Boalia, and Chandrima police in Rajshahi.
Mayor Abbas initially claimed the audio had been ‘edited,’ but later confessed on a Facebook Live stream that the audio was recorded about three or four months ago and contained his statements.
He said he was influenced by the opinions of a religious teacher at a local madrasa and said there should not be any mural of Bangabandhu ‘just casually’.
Abbas cried, begging for forgiveness if his ‘crime was a major one’. He asked people for their support and said he was ‘facing a conspiracy.’
(Source: bdnews24.com)
