Staff Reporter :
Journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul was shot dead by Shahzadpur Municipality Mayor Halimul Haque Miru, said ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker of Sirajganj-6 constituency Hasibur Rahman Swapan on Saturday.
Miru is also the organising secretary AL’s Sirajganj district unit.
“The municipality Mayor opened fire from his personal shotgun. The shooting spree took place in presence of police, but they took no action. Even, police helped the Mayor go into hiding after the incident,” the MP claimed it while attending the Namaj-e-Janaja of the journalist.
He also demanded immediate arrest of Miru.
The Janaja was held at the playground of the Shahzadpur Pilot High School. Thousands of people from all walks of life took part in the Janaja.
Abdul Hakim Shimul, Shahzadpur Upazila Correspondent of vernacular daily the Dainik Samakal, among three others, were bullet hit during a clash between two associate bodies of AL at Shahzadpur in Sirajganj on Thursday.
He succumbed to his injuries on Friday afternoon on the way to Dhaka from Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital for better treatment.
Meanwhile, a half-day hartal in protest against the killing was observed in Shahzadpur on Saturday.
Supporters of a faction of local Awami League and its student front Chhatra League enforced the hartal. The local Press Club extended its support to the 6am-12pm shutdown.
During the hartal hours, no long-route bus left or entered the upazila headquarters, while rickshaws and auto-rickshaws went off the streets in the town. Business establishments and educational institutions remained closed during the hartal, which locals called spontaneous. Supporters of the two factions of the AL clashed on Thursday as a sequel to assault on a Chhatra League leader allegedly by the younger brother of the Mayor. The rivals then attacked the house of the Mayor.
Journalist Abdul Hakim Shimul was injured when he went there for gathering news of the incident.
Hakim’s widow Nurun Nahar on Friday filed a case accusing 15 people, including the Mayor and his brother for the killing.
Meanwhile, police arrested four accused in connection with the killing of Shimul. But they are yet to arrest the Mayor as he went into hiding.
“We are conducting raids to arrest the Mayor. He will be arrested soon,” Rezaul Haque, Acting Officer- in-Charge of Shahzadpur PS, told The New Nation yesterday.
