Hero Alam fears arrest or harassment upon return from Dubai

Ashraful Alam alias Hero Alam has expressed apprehension that he might be arrested or harassed upon his return to Bangladesh over going to inaugural ceremony of a jewelry shop owned by Rabiul Islam alias Arav Khan in Dubai.

Hero Alam is among the sports and film stars who went to open the jewelry shop by Arav, who is a fugitive over murder of a police inspector.

Speaking with Prothom Alo on Saturday afternoon, Hero Alam said he fears of being arrested or harassed in the airport upon his return.

Alam said he would return home at 8:00am on Sunday from Dubai and told journalists to come to the airport in fear of being harassed or arrested.

He claimed that neither he nor cricketer Shakib Al Hasan had any prior knowledge that Arav Khan is accused of a murder case.

Detective Branch’s chief Harun or Rashid said those who went to inaugurate the jewelry shop were informed about the past of Arav Khan beforehand and Shakib and Hero Alam might be quizzed for going to Dubai to open the shop.

Hero Alam alleged earlier the DB chief once summoned him for rendering Rabindra song and misbehaved with him. He said he was released only after signing a bond.

Hero Alam also said he might be harassed over the grudge on various previous issues.

“A certain quarter is trying to harass me using the excuse of Arav Khan issue. I took part in by-polls of Bogura-4 and Bogura-6 constituencies as an independent candidate. It was me who spoke up before the media that the ruling party cadres took control of the polling centre illegally in Bogura-6 by polls.

“After the by-election, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said Hero Alam has become zero. I retorted that none can make me zero,” Hero Alam told Prothom Alo today.

Hero Alam was defeated by a small margin of 834 votes against JASAD’s candidate AKM Rezaul Karim in the Bogura-4 polls. JASAD is a component of Awami League-led 14-party alliance.

Hero Alam said police can interrogate anyone for the sake of investigation but they will have to tell first how a popular cricketer Shakib Al Hasan or he have a link with the incident of police killing.  

Hero Alam said he had no prior knowledge on the Arav Khan’s past.

“I got familiarized with him (Arav Khan) through Facebook. He invited us as an entrepreneur of Bangladeshi origin and we went there to encourage an expatriate businessman.”

Arav Jewelers was inaugurated in the Gold Souk in Dubai with much pomp and fanfare on Wednesday night.

According to DB, Rabiul Islam from Gopalganj’s Kotalipara adopted the alias Arav Khan. He also goes by the aliases Sohagh Mollah, Hridoy Sheikh and Apon. Rabiul fled the country after being one of the accused in a case filed over the murder of police inspector Mamun Imran Khan.

The police inspector was killed in Dhaka on 7 July 2018. Detective Branch of police said Rabiul Islam first fled to India and took an Indian passport in the name Arav Khan. Later he moved to Dubai from India and became a big jeweler there.