Barishal AL politics rife with show-cause notices, cases and forgery
After a spate of show-cause notices exchanged between two rival factions in Barishal Awami League, an appeal has been made to file complaint case on charges of signature forgery. Member of Banaripara upazila Awami League and resident of Bisharkandi in the upazila, Uttam Kumar Das, filed the case on Wednesday, with the senior judicial magistrate court in Barishal. Judge Sumaiya Rizvi Mouri took the complaint appeal into cognizance and gave the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) responsibility to investigate the case.
The court's bench assistant Md Mustafizur Rahman confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo. The plaintiff Uttam Kumar Das is assistant professor of Baitakatha Degree College in Nazirpur upazila of the district. He is known to be a follower of the president and general secretary of Banaripara upazila Awami League.
The defendants in the case are Banaripara upazila Awami League joint secretary Subrata Lal Kundu, vice president Mustafa Sardar, upazila parishad vice chairman and upazila Awami League organising secretary Nurul Huda, Mamunur Rashid and joint general secretary Professor Md Zakir Hossain. They are all known to be followers of Barishal-2 (Banaripara-Ujirpur) MP Md Shahe Alam.
According to party sources, on 3 October the upazila Awami League president Md Golam Faruk and general secretary Moulad Hossain issued a show-cause notice against Shahe Alam MP. Later, the district Awami League president Abul Hasnat Abdullah and general secretary Talukdar Md Yunus issued a counter show-cause notice against the two leaders for taking such a step against an MP of the party without informing the higher authorities at first.
Sources say that after the show-cause notice was issued against the member of parliament, a section of leaders of the upazila Awami League issued a press release with the heading, 'Protest and condemnation of false news against MP Shahe Alam.' The press release also had the signature of the plaintiff Uttam Kumar Das.
In his complaint, he claimed that the five leaders, including himself, didn't sign the press release. He said that they names had been added through forgery. One of the five leaders has been made plaintiff and the rest witnesses in the case. They are Banaripara upazila Awami League agriculture and cooperatives secretary Abul Kalam Azad, treasurer Saiful Islam and members Selim Sardar, freedom fighter Shahjahan Khan and Mizanur Rahman.
The plaintiff's lawyer Md Mamun Ar Rashid said that the signatures of a few members of Banaripara upazila Awami League working committee were forged in a press release and published in the media and on social media. A complaint case has been filed with the court in this regard. The court has ordered PBI to investigate the matter.
Md Shahe Alam MP has claimed that the charges brought about against him the show-cause notice are false. He said these fabricated and false allegations were made against him in the notice without any sort of meeting at first. He said that controversy was being stirred up against him before the election. The MP said that a handful of leaders wanted to get some sort of work and benefits which he refused and so they came up with this baseless one-sided notice just before the election.
Upazila Awami League general secretary Md Moulad Hossain told Prothom Alo, however, that on 19 September the MP has been questioned in this regard during the upazila Awami League extended meeting. He answered some of the questions, but was unable to answer some other questions that were raised. That is why it was decided at the meeting to issue a show-cause notice against him.