Faridpur’s Rubel imprisoned for 10 yrs in arms case

Expelled president of Faridpur Press Club Imtiaz Hasan alias Rubel, 49, and his associate Rezaul Karim alias Bipul have been sentenced to 17 years in prison in total under two sections of the Arms Control Act. Faridpur District and Session Judge Court justice Ashok Kumar Dutta passed the verdict at around 12:00 pm today, Sunday.

Sources said the court sentenced both to 10 years in prison for keeping pistols in their possession under Section 19 (A) of the Arms Control Act of 1878 and another 7 years of prison term for keeping ammunition under the section 19 (F) of the same act. According to the court decisions, the convicts will be allowed to serve both sentences simultaneously.

Special public prosecutor at the court Nawab Ali confirmed the verdict to Prothom Alo. He said this verdict is a big step ahead towards establishing the rule of law in the country. This verdict is the proof that there is no respite for the criminals in the country, no matter even if they are affiliated in the politics of the ruling party.

Expelled Faridpur Press Club president Imtiaz Hasan Rubel and his brother Sazzad Hossain Barkat, expelled general secretary of Faridpur city Awami League, came into limelight for being involved in controversial political activities.

They are known to be very close to former local government minister and MP of the Faridpur-3 constituency, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. The two brothers were arrested for carrying out an attack in the house of the then district Awami League president Shubal Chandra Saha in June 2020. The police arrested a total of nine persons, including Rubel, Barkat and their associate Rezaul Islam, in separate drives conducted at different places in connection with the incident.

According to the police and court sources, two separate cases were filed against Sazzad Hossain, Imtiaz Hasan and Rezaul Karim under the Arms Control Act. Sazzad Hossain and Imtiaz Hasan were made accused in one of the cases and Imtiaz Hasan and his associate Rezaul Karim. Apart from these two cases, nine other cases were lodged against the two brothers on various allegations, including money laundering. Today’s verdict came after the trial in the arms case.

Sources in the police and court say the detective branch (DB) of police arrested Rezaul Karim with a pistol and two rounds of bullets from the Shree Angan microbus stand area of the Faridpur city in the early hours of 8 June, 2020. Later, DB police sub-inspector (SI) Abdul Jabbar filed a case against Rezaul Karim under the Arms Control Act as the plaintiff. The arrestee later mentioned the name of Imtiaz Hasan while recording the deposition under section 164.

Later, the investigating officer of the case and the then SI of DB police Farhad Hasan submitted the charge sheet in the case accusing Rezaul Karim and Imtiaz Hasan.

The two accused were present in the court during the declaration of the verdict. Of them, Imtiaz Hasan was already in prison in another case and Rezaul Karim was on bail. They both were taken to the prison under tight security following the declaration of the verdict.