Feni Correspondent :The police on Sunday arrested Jahid Chowdhury alias Jihad, a local Awami League leader and mastermind of last Tuesday’s sensational killing of Fulgazi upazila chairman Ekramul Haq.Jihad was picked up from Baraipur area in the district town on Sunday morning, Md Shamsul Alam Sarkar, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Feni said. He was arrested a day after Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), quoting arrestees, had said Jihad, a close aide to Feni-2 AL lawmaker Nizam Hazari, along with Abidul Islam Abid and Sohel conspired the murder of Ekramul Huq.Abid, a cousin of Nizam, shot Ekramul twice from close range, RAB said at a press briefing at its headquarters on Saturday. Four others are Kazi Shanan Mahmud, Jahidul Islam alias Saikat, Sajjadul Islam Patwari alias Sifat and Sunny followed Abid and opened fire, said Habibur Rahman, Director, media wing of RAB said earlier. According to the confessional statement of the suspects, Sohel, also known as “Ruti” Sohel, asked some of the attackers to set Ekram’s car ablaze to ensure his death.Jihad allegedly supplied the firearms which were used in the killing mission. The assailants returned those to him after the killing, RAB official said. Intra-party feuds and rivalry over establishment of supremacy in Phulgazi were attributed as reasons behind the murder, RAB said. The other arrestees are Chowdhury Md Nasir Uddin alias Anik, Shahjalal Uddin alias Shipon, Helal Uddin and Jahid Hossain. They are aged between 20 and 24 years.Meanwhile, another suspect Abdullahil Mahmud Shiblu, councillor of Ward-5 of Feni municipality surrendered to the Feni police on Saturday. A Feni court for interrogation placed all the nine on an eight-day remand on Sunday.Shiblu and Jihad coordinated the killing operation from some 30 yards away, RAB said, quoting Shanan, one of the arrestees.Shiblu, once a key member of Jainal Hazari’s so-called “steering committee”, controls the Bilashi cinema hall area, where the gruesome incident took place.Ekramul, who was also president of Fulgazi AL, was shot and then burned alive in his car in broad daylight in Feni on Tuesday last.His driver and three others who were with him were injured, as the attackers stabbed them with sharp weapons.Ekram’s rivalry with Jihad, joint general secretary of Phulgazi AL, intensified following the election of Anandapur union under Fulgazi upazila in 2011. Jihad contested in the polls but lost to Harunur Rashid, who was backed by Ekram. Enraged, Jihad supported BNP-backed candidate Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar, instead of supporting Ekram, in the upazila election early this year. Ekram, however, defeated Mahtab.Irked by Jihad’s activities, Ekram had suspended him from the local AL committee. The suspension however, was later withdrawn following pressure from Nizam Hazari, MP. Meanwhile, a court here on Sunday placed nine suspects, including Feni municipality ward councillor Abdullah Hill Mahmud Shiblu on an eight-day remand in connection with the killing of the upazila chairman Ekram.
