Tipu was the new 'king' of Taher’s ‘kingdom’ in Lakshmipur

The night of 4 August was unlike any other night for the people of Lakshmipur. News broke in the evening that AKM Salah Uddin alias Tipu has fled. None could believe the news at first. How could such a powerful man who would control everything from administration to police flee! Around two months have passed since then, but all powerful Salah Uddin, three times chairman of Sadar upazila parishad, has never been seen publicly.

Lakshmipur, once dubbed as a 'city of terror', is now much quieter. The people who have been silent for so long have started speaking up about Salah Uddin, the former president of district Jubo League. They say, Salah Uddin rose to prominence as 'son of Taher'. The politics of Lakshmipur revolved around him and his family. They have also accrued huge wealth through criminal activities.

Former organising secretary of district Awami League Ruhul Amin alleged that Salah Uddin and his family had kept the party's dedicated leaders and common people hostage for so long. He told Prothom Alo, “The root of their power was the late Abu Taher, the former mayor of Lakshmipur pourashava. After Taher's death, they gathered around district Awami League general secretary and former member of parliament (MP) Nur Uddin Chowdhury. He (Nur Uddin) is the brother in law of Salah Uddin.”

According to party sources, after Awami came to power in 1996, Abu Taher became the general secretary of the district Awami League. After that, various criminal activities and the murder of BNP leader Nurul Islam hogged the headlines. After the political changeover in the 2001 election, Taher, his wife and one son were in jail in various cases including murder.

Later they were released on bail. They were on the run during the caretaker government in 2007-08. After the Awami League came back to power in 2009, Taher's family had returned to Lakshmipur and Taher got elected mayor of Lakshmipur pourashava backed by Awami League.

AKM Salah Uddin claimed to be currently staying in Saudi Arabia. He told Prothom Alo on Messenger last Saturday, "I did not shoot at the students. I shot upwards. I shot in self-defence and to protect my family. As I am getting politically established, people inside and outside the party are spreading misinformation. I was not involved in any crime.”

Wearing a bulletproof jacket, helmet and carrying firearms in hand, Salah Uddin was shooting at protesters from the roof of the house. He was giving directions to the leaders and activists by blowing whistles. He was laughing sometimes and firing again. On the same roof, 20-25 other people were accompanying Salah Uddin. Many of them had weapons. Sherbat (beverage) was being prepared on the roof which they drank and shot again. On 4 August, students who were demonstrating were fired for four hours at a stretch from Salah Uddin's ancestral house ‘Pinki Plaza’ in Lakshmipur town. Earlier, Salah Uddin and his men took position on the roof of the house after being chased by the protesters. After that, from 11:00am, Salah Uddin and his men shot at the students who were protesting on the road. The entire city of Lakshmipur turned into a battlefield in the clashes surrounding the anti-discrimination movement that day.

Around 4:30pm, the protesters set fire to Salah Uddin's four-storey residential building and another five-storey building. Twelve people including four students were killed throughout the day. Leaders and activists of Jubo League and Awami League were also among the killed. Salah Uddin has been made the main accused in the murder case of the students Saad Al Afnan and Sabbir Hossain who were killed in that incident.

Md Robin and Harunur Rashid, who were shot on that day, told Prothom Alo that all hell broke loose in the hospital that day due to Salah Uddin's consistent firing. Hundreds of people gathered at the hospital with many being bullet-hit on their hands, legs, waists, and backs. The entire hospital was teeming with victims.

According to the JM section of the district administration, the district administration issued 35 privately owned firearms licenses between 6 January, 2009 and 5 August, 2024. After the fall of the Awami League government, when the licenses of these weapons were revoked, 34 firearms were returned to different police stations of the district. Only the weapon in the name of AKM Salahuddin was not returned.

Harunur Rashid, the sexagenarian uncle of martyred student Saad Al Afnan, told Prothom Alo, “Salah Uddin’s men shot and killed my only nephew. I could not have imagined in my life that such a young lad would be buried like this.”

Lakshmipur sadar police station’s officer-in-charge (OC) Yasin Faruq Majumder told Prothom Alo, shooting by the former upazila chairman heated up the atmosphere that day. The shooting and killing are under investigation.

The importance of AKM Salah Uddin and his elder brother AHM Aftab Uddin (Biplob) would increase in Lakshmipur when national and local elections came. It is alleged that with their own forces, they used to influence the elections, occupy the polling centers and seal the ballots in exchange of money.

A close relative of a member of parliament elected from Lakshmipur in the 11th parliament election told Prothom Alo that the Awami League candidate was at risk of losing as BNP had fielded a candidate in that election. A day before the voting, that Awami League  candidate made an agreement with Salah Uddin to influence the polls and stuff ballot papers for Tk 30 million in cash. Then Salah Uddin with his men entered many centers at night and stuffed the ballots. After winning the election more money had to be paid.

Prothom Alo talked to two former mayors and two union parishad (UP) chairmen supported by Awami League. On the condition of anonymity, they said that they took assistance from Salah Uddin’s gang for election day, paying a large amount of money. Rival candidates would have panicked if Salah Uddin was on their side and victory was almost ensured.

Teariganj UP of Sadar upazila went to polls on 28 April. On 18 April, Aftab Uddin went to that union to exert his influence. However, while campaigning for the election of the chairman candidate Omar Faruq Ibn Hussain, he faced public anger. Aftab Uddin, whose death sentence was commuted to life sentence by the president, said in a public speech at Teariganj Bazar, “Don’t be afraid, have patience. There is no worse person than me in this district, nor will there be any.”

Aftab Uddin was sentenced to death in BNP leader Nurul Islam murder case. On 14 July, 2016, the then president Jillur Rahman commuted his sentence. The following year, the president reduced Aftab's life sentence to 10 years in two more murder cases (Kamal and Mohsin murders). After that, his name was also withdrawn from the Firoze murder case in 2012 in political considerations.

AKM Salah Uddin became vice president of Lakshmipur Government College Student's Union after Awami League came to power in 1996. At that time, his father Abu Taher was the general secretary of the district Awami League. Salah Uddin became the president of district Chhatra League in 2001. He became the Awami League-nominated chairman candidate in the upazila election in 2014. Mohiuddin Bakul, the former publicity secretary of the district Awami League, contested the election as a rebel candidate. Salah Uddin, the then joint convener of the district Jubo League, allegedly won the election by threatening, lobbying and spending money.

About that election, Mohiuddin Bokul told Prothom Alo that Abu Taher was bent on electing Salah Uddin at any cost in that election. To ensure his son’s victory, he did everything ‘Taher style’.  Salah Uddin and Taher’s cadres, with assistance from Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), surrounded Bokul’s house for the whole night and stuffed the ballots on the night before the election. “The criminals had entered my house and hit me all over my body with rifles. I suffered liver injuries due to the assault. I have been suffering from illness since then.”

In the 2018 upazila parishad election, Abul Kashem Chowdhury was nominated from Awami League. This time, Salah Uddin contested as a rebel candidate in that election. Abul Kashem Chowdhury said that before the election, Taher’s men staged a showdown carrying arms in some areas in front of law enforcement agencies. But no action was taken. Many activists of the party left the area after being threatened by Taher’s men and the election was conducted 'Taher style'.

Abul Kashem Chowdhury said, “I don't want to talk about those incidents anymore. I have left the matter to Allah for judgment. Thousands of leaders and activists of Awami League have  now fled the area because of Salah Uddin."

There was no strong candidate against Salah Uddin in the sixth upazila parishad election this year. In that election, Salah Uddin got around 70,000 votes while nearest rival Rehmat Ullah secured 6397 votes.

Salah Uddin’s family allegedly grabbed a lot of land during the 16 years of the previous Awami League government, sometimes at a nominal price, sometimes by force using their influence and intimidation. Allegations were there that they took over land making deeds at gun point. The victims could not even dare to file a case.

Taher family owns a farmhouse at Iter Pul area in Lakshmipur Sadar upazila on 208-decimal land. The farmhouse had many animals including seven deer and peacocks in seven sheds. Taher’s three sons—Salah Uddin, Aftab Uddin and Abu Shahadat Md Shiblu-- would spend their leisure times there. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina on 5 August, locals stormed that farmhouse and ransacked it. The animals were stolen and sheds demolished.

Habibur Rahman, a local resident, alleged that the Taher family forcibly grabbed the land to build the farmhouse. He said his grandfather Monsur Ali Bhuiyan bought the land a century ago. Abu Taher had bought a small piece of land for one of their neighbors and started an effort to grab adjoining ancestral land of Habibur’s family. They became successful in illegally occupying the land at one point. Salah Uddin’s men picked Habibur up and forced him to hand over the land by keeping arms in front of him. They also threatened to shhot him dead.

A local tea vendor said each decimal land in the Iter Pul area is worth Tk 700,000 to Tk 1 million. According to that price, the Taher family grabbed land worth millions to build a farmhouse. The family had a plan to build a zoo there.

The Taher family has a recycle park on 250 decimals land in Motbi Darbar Sharif area (near Moju Chowdhury Hat). Taher's younger son Abu Sahadat Shiblu looks after it.

Local residents and leaders and activists of Awami League say that Salah Uddin’s family forcibly grabbed land from the locals. Some of the land owners received a nominal price while some didn't. There are rumors that millions were spent on the construction of the park.

On 23 November 2017, Salah Uddin was elected president and Abdullah Al Noman general secretary at the district Jubo League council. However, they have not been able to form a full district committee in four years. Despite discontent within the party for leading the Jubo League by the two-leader committee, no one dared to speak out.

In this context, an extended meeting of the district Jubo League was called on 21 September 2021. Aspiring leaders and activists stood by the Ramganj-Lakshmipur road to welcome central leaders attending the meeting. An attack led by Salah Uddin was launched there. Ten leaders and activists including Syed Nurul Azim, a potential candidate for district Jubo League general secretary and former general secretary of the district Chhatra League, were injured. Following this incident, the central committee dissolved the district Jubo League committee.

After the incident, speaking to Prothom Alo, Syed Nurul Azim said that they were attacked deliberately. He also said that 10-15 people on motorcycles led by Salah Uddin arrived and launched the attack.

There are also allegations of attacks on the police led by Salah Uddin. On 3 January 2019, Salah Uddin and his associates attacked a local Jubo League member, Delwar Hossain, who was receiving treatment at the district hospital. When they were obstructed, they assaulted the police, resulting in a clash between police and Jubo League leaders and activists. At least ten people including four policemen were injured.

After the fall of the Awami League government, district Jubo League leaders and activists went into hiding. Currently, two individuals in Malaysia and Dubai told Prothom Alo via WhatsApp that anyone who wanted to oppose Salah Uddin would have to face severe consequences. They were harassed in various ways.

In the affidavit submitted before the 2014 upazila parishad elections, Salah Uddin declared an annual income of Tk 370,000. During the sixth upazila parishad elections in 2024, he showed an annual income of Tk 15,70,000, earning Tk 855,000 from rent on houses, apartments, and shops, and Tk 1,75,000 from business activities.

In 2014, he declared movable assets worth approximately Tk 3.6 million. By 2024, Salah Uddin's reported financial assets had risen to nearly Tk 30 million, although previously he had no immoveable assets except for a jointly owned four-storey building.

According to the current year’s (2024) affidavit, Salah Uddin’s movable assets exceed Tk 12 million, including Tk 2.51 million in cash and various investments.

Previously having no immoveable assets, he now claims immovable assets worth Tk 17.2 million, including 12.75 decimals of non-agricultural land worth Tk 7.12 million. He has taken shops in Lakshmipur New Market and municipal shopping centers for Tk 900,000 and invested over Tk 2.31 million in the construction of Pinky Plaza. He also reported expenditures of Tk 6.38 million for constructing two buildings on two decimals and 2.75 decimals of land, and Tk 7.65 million for building a house in Artist Colony. He has shown a flat of 456 square feet in Dhaka worth Tk 1.06 million.
Local residents said that Salah Uddin possesses even more assets, including land and apartments in various locations in Dhaka. A portion of his wealth is reportedly registered under the names of his wife, daughter, and others.

The Lakshmipur Socheton Nagorik Committee president ZM Faruqi said that Salah Uddin does not appear to have any visible business, yet his wealth continues to grow. An investigation into their irregularities and corruption should be carried out.