Rezaul Karim Bablu, member of parliament (MP) of Bogura-7 constituency, allegedly aimed his pistol at Shajahanpur upazila parishad (UP) chairman, Shorab Hossain, and threatened to kill him over an argument at a meeting.
A photograph of MP Rezaul Karim brandishing his gun went viral on social media. Refuting the allegation, however, the MP claimed he took out the arms from his pocket to defend himself, not to kill anyone.
The incident took place on Wednesday around 10:00am at the corridor of Shajahanpur UP with the presence of police -- a time when a meeting of law enforcement committee, centering on the largest Hindu festival Durga Puja, was underway at the parishad’s auditorium.
According to the upazila parishad, the meeting of the committee was called on Wednesday morning. Both the parliamentarian Rezaul Karim and UP chairman Shorab Hossain are the advisers of the body.
Two eyewitnesses said Rezaul Karim, accompanying his brother-in-law and personal secretary (PA) Reza, driver Shamim and office assistant Samiul, went to the room of upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) in the morning -- a time when the UNO was in the meeting.
As the UNO was unavailable, the MP accompanying his associates was standing at the parishad's veranda. Seeing him there, upazila Jubo League acting general secretary Alamgir Badsha became angry claiming that Rezaul took bribes from him on the pretext of granting him a tender.
Later, UP chairman Shorab came to the scene and took the Alamgir side that triggered a brawl. At a stage, MP Rezaul Karim took out his arms from his pocket.
The chairman alleged Rezaul Karim is dilly-dallying to hand over a project to Alamgir Badsha even though the MP was bribed for that. When Alamgir sought his money back, the MP's brother-in-law, Reza, attacked him.
The chairman alleged, "The MP took out his arms all of a sudden as I went there to mediate the dispute. He aimed the gun at my leg and threatened to kill me."
However, Rezaul Karim refuted the allegations and claimed the leaders and activists of Jubo League carried out a sudden attack on him when he went to the parishad to attend the meeting. At that time, he took out the licensed gun from his pocket to save himself.
Talking about the bribe, he said, “PA Reza is my brother-in-law. The Jubo league leader could complain to me if he (PA Reza) takes money from someone else. An attack was carried out on the parliamentarian. They are trying to cover up what actually happened. Attack was carried out on me so that I cannot join the meeting."
Shahjahanpur police station officer-in-charge (OC) Abdullah Al Mamun said inspector (investigation) Abdur Rauf attended the meeting. Therefore, he knows well what actually happened there.
When contacted Abdur Rauf said, “I was in the meeting. I don’t know what happened outside. The OC came to the scene and took the MP to the police station."
Meanwhile, a faction of upazila Awami-League brought out a rally on Wednesday afternoon, protesting the threat to the chairman.