Staff Reporter with Kishoreganj Correspondent :
Miscreants allegedly attacked the village home of Health Secretary Abdul Mannan at Katiadi upazila in Kishoreganj and assaulted the local Assistant Commissioner (land) on Saturday.
The secretary was present at his village residence during the incident.
Witnesses and local sources said both Abdul Mannan and Nur Mohammad are from the same village and they had a feud over establishing a community clinic in the area, being built on the land donated by the secretary’s family.
Secretary Mannan went to inspect the construction work of the clinic near his home on Saturday. At one point, some 20-25 men went to the spot and demanded suspension of the construction works, as the MP was not informed about it. They left the scene after an altercation with the secretary.
Over a hundred people carrying sharp weapons and sticks gathered in front of the clinic at around 12:45pm, and started to hurl abusive words towards the Health Secretary. AC land Ashraful, who was present at the secretary’s protocol, was attacked and thrown into a pond as he went to inspect the incident. The attackers also beat up construction workers and evicted them from the construction site.
Later, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members also went to the spot.
The health secretary said that Nur Mohammad instructed the attack and they assaulted AC (land) Ashraful Alam, while ‘the police were reluctant during the incident.’
Mannan said that he went to his village as part of mass vaccination programme scheduled for Sunday. He set up a community clinic on their ancestral land in Chanpur village of the upazila named after his wife who died of Covid-19 infection. “The local lawmaker has objection about the clinic. He directed his associates to create problems. His associates are involved in extortion. They asked me why I did not take permission from the lawmaker before setting up the clinic,” alleged Mannan.
Later, the lawmaker called his associates and ordered to launch the attack, the secretary said.
When asked, Nur Mohammad, also a former Inspector General of Police, said there was no incident of attack. He also claimed that the secretary was a ‘bad person’ and had no connection with local people.
“Some locals went to his residence in the morning to see the condition of the the clinic. But Mannan misbehaved with them. Later, they had an argument, but there was no incident of attack into his house,” said Nur Mohammad.
Officer-in-Charge of Katiadi Police Station MA Jalil, however, confirmed the attack and said that they went to the spot after the incident and the situation is now under control.
