Main accused in UNO attack case hospitalised

Asadul Islam, main accused in the attack on Ghoraghat Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Wahida Khanam and her father Omar Ali, has been admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital after falling sick.

The two others detained in the case, Nabirul Islam and Santu Kumar Biswas, are being taken to Dinajpur district judge court.

This was confirmed by Mozaffor Hossain, inspector at Ghoraghat police station, in the morning.

Mozaffor said a member of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Babul Hossain, handed over Nabirul and Santu to Ghoraghat police station at around 2:00am Friday. Later, they were sent to the district judge court around 9:00am on Saturday.

Asadul has been made the prime accused in the case, he said adding that police have sought five-day remand to interrogate them.

Meanwhile, RAB-13 commander Reza Ahmed Ferdous told a press conference at RAB office in Rangpur on Friday that Asadul, Nabirul and Santu had confessed to their involvement in the attack during primary interrogation. They claimed the attack was carried out with the aim of 'robbery', he said.

Nabirul is the chief perpetrator of the attack, the press conference was told.

Both Nabirul and Santu are building painters by profession. There are several cases against them of theft and cases under the Narcotics Control Act with Ghoraghat police station. Nabirul was seen in the CCTV footage wearing a red T-shirt which he confirmed during the interrogation, according to RAB.

According to local sources, miscreants broke into the UNO’s official residence in Dinajpur Wednesday midnight. They tied up the security guard and locked him in the guard room before breaking in.

UNO’s father Omar Ali, 70, would go for a walk every morning. When his companions on Thursday found he had not come to walk, they went to the UNO’s residence to look for him. After they did not get any response to their many calls, they informed the police. Police later rescued the UNO, her father and a guard.

The wounded father and daughter were first taken to Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH). Later, Wahida was taken to Dhakaby an Air Force helicopter. She is currently undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in Agargaon, Dhaka while her father is still under treatment at RMCH.