5 August murder cases used as weapon to seize business

On 17 July 2025, nearly a year after the fall of the Awami League government, Nissan Mohammed, known locally as Dulal, was arrested from his home in Savar for alleged involvement in the murder of Sazzad Hossain, a 29-year-old textile engineering student shot on 5 August 2024—the same day that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country

Dulal was one of 321 people named in the First Information Report (FIR) filed eleven months earlier at the Savar Model Police Station by Sazzad’s father, Mohammad Alamgir.

The FIR alleged that Dulal was among “Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League terrorists” who chased protesters near the Savar bus stand, beating people indiscriminately and “fired at them”. Sazzad—who was not part of the protests and had gone there to shop—was shot and later died at Enam Medical College Hospital.

In the forwarding letter to the magistrate, the police stated that “The primary investigation has found that [Dulal] is involved in the incident. It is known locally that if the accused is released on bail he will be involved in similar crimes again. It is absolutely necessary to keep the accused in jail for the sake of a fair investigation in the case.”

39-year-old Dulal, a small businessman with three children, has now been in prison for over three months, so far refused bail in this and two other related case of murder. Unlike many high profile arrests, involving people with national profiles, his detention has gained no media attention.

This, though, is a pity, as his arrest and continuing detention reflects a story, likely replicated throughout the country, about how Bangladesh’s police and judiciary appear entangled in a web of political and business interests, where “justice” is manipulated for financial ends.

In the FIR, Dulal was listed as number 233 and described as “President, Savar Jubo League.” Anyone familiar with Savar’s local politics would immediately recognize the falsehood: Dulal was not a member of any Awami League committee, let alone the President of its youth wing.

So how and why did Dulal’s name get to be on the FIR list as an accused.

Sajaad’s widow, Sanjida, says that the names on the list were heavily influenced by two local leaders of the Bangladesh National Party, Golam Mostafa, the Secretary of BNP, in Savar Thana, and his brother Shohidul Islam, a BNP youth wing leader.

“This case was filed by my father-in-law, and he was made to file it by former Chairman [Golam] Mostofa and his brother Shohid [Islam]. They together made my father-in-law file the case. … My father in law does not know that many people.”

She said that the two BNP local leaders “used to come to our house every day, in different notebooks and pens they would bring many names, they would insert those names.”

Alamgir, Sazzad’s father, admits that he did not know many of the people listed in the FIR, including that of Dulal, and cant explain how his name was listed

“The police and local BNP members completed all the formalities,” he said. “I only signed the paper.” However, he denied knowing Mostafa or Shohid.

Attempts to contact Shohidul failed, but Mostafa denied any involvement and said that he “did not even know who was Dulal.”

However, the reason for the inclusion of Dulal’s name appears to lie not in politics but in business interests. Dulal’s family believes that his name was listed in the FIR as the local BNP politicians used his arrest to help get their hands on the business which Dulal and his family had with their neighbouring garment factory. Whatever the truth of this claim, the two BNP brothers have now taken over Dulal’s family business.

In 2011, Dulal’s family sold 1.5 acres of land to Winter Dress Limited, which built a garment factory there. The family later struck a deal with the company to provide Tiffin (lunch) to its workers — a steady and profitable business.

However, in 2016, with the Awami League in power, the Jubo League leader Sohel Rana became Savar’s newly elected Union Parishad chairman, and  demanded a large cut of their earnings. “We earned maybe 5 lakh a month, and Rana took about 3 lakh in total,” recalled Dulal’s brother, Jasim Uddin.

After the 2018 national elections, with the Awami League further consolidating control, Rana summoned Jasim to Best Western Restaurant in Uttara with several associates.

“Sohel wanted me to sign over the business to Evergreen Enterprise, a firm owned by his brother, Nasir Uddin,” Jasim said. “They gave me a pre-written statement to sign. It said we were handing the business to them.”

The Jubo League brothers took over Dulal’s and Jasim’s family business altogether.

When the Awami League fell from power in August 2024, and Rana and his brother fled abroad, Dulal’s family hoped to reclaim their business. But that was not to be. With the BNP resurgent in Savar, local BNP politicians stepped into the same role of extortion, thinking it was their turn to make money. 

Mostafa and Shohidul made it clear to Dulal’s family that they wanted the business. “Negotiations took place, involving other senior BNP leaders. In the end we were offered 20 to 30 percent of the business, an offer we refused. But shortly after Sazzad’s father filed the FIR with Dulal’s name in it, the brothers approached Winter Dress limited and made a new agreement with the company.”

Jasim now says the local BNP leaders give his family members a monthly payment as “compensation” for taking over the business.

Mostafa denied they had taken over Jasim’s family business, but did acknowledge that they give money to Jassim’s family. The Directors of Winter Dress limited did not respond to requests for comment.

It would take no time at all for an honest, independent official within Bangladesh’s criminal justice system—whether a police officer, prosecutor, or magistrate—to recognise that the case against Dulal is baseless. Beyond the obvious mischaracterisation in the FIR describing him as a senior Awami League leader and the manner in which the FIRs were prepared with the involvement of those with partisan political and business interests …. the police have no evidence linking Dulal to the killings. The police and prosecutors have not indicated that they have any photographs, videos, or phone records placing him near the scene. Yet, he remains in prison.

Successive governments have failed to empower independent and non-partisan actors within the justice system to challenge politically motivated detentions. Instead, a nexus of political and commercial elites — in power, or aligned with the government — have dominated law enforcement and prosecution.

The aftermath of the July–August killings has shown how this pattern persists. What should have been a moment of change has instead become a new round of retribution and profit-seeking, indistinguishable from the old order.

Despite clear steps the government could have taken to prevent such abuses, it has done little. Eleven months after taking power, innocent men like Dulal remain behind bars, victims of a system that continues to serve politics, not justice. The next administration, in power post-elections, will inherit a criminal justice system unreformed and as corrupted as it was under the previous Awami League regime.

* David Bergman has written about Bangladesh for many years. He can be contacted on X at @TheDavidBergman

* The views expressed are the author’s own.