BD Correspondent:

An opposition Bangladesh National Party leader from Jashore was found dead in the River Buriganga in the capital on Thursday.

The 57-year-old victim, Abu Bakar Abu, went missing from Naya Paltan in Dhaka on November 18 after he had come to attend his interview for nomination in the upcoming polls scheduled for December 30.

He was the current chairman of Majidpur Union Parishad in Keshobpur and vice-president of BNP’s Jashore district unit, family members and the party sources told the media.

In a press conference later in the night, BNP’s senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that whereabouts of Abu Bakar was unknown after he was picked up by law enforcement agencies on November 18.
He said ‘the killing was carried out by the agency at the current government’s behest.’

The party denounced the killing and demanded justice.
The victim’s nephew, Humayun Kabir Sumon, also a leader of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal central unit, said on Thursday they identified the body at Mitford Hospital morgue in the evening after receiving information from one of his fellows in Jashore.

He said his uncle checked in Metropolitan Hotel in the capital’s Naya Paltan and went out of the hotel about 8:30pm for dinner.

‘He called me several times afterwards and I was on the motorbike at that time. When I called back, he could not give us details about him. His phone was found off within an hour. Later, some of the people demanded money for his release. We gave Tk 2 lakh for his release too,’ he added.

Sumon said, ‘We tracked the last location of his phone at Nawabpur. And, we sent the money to six Bkash numbers which were used in Chattogram.’

He said they approached Naya Paltan police afterwards but police did not receive the missing complaint immediately rather visited the hotel.

Abu Bakar was supposed to attend the nomination interview on November 19, said family members.

About the body, Dakkhin Keraniganj Police Station officer-in-charge Shah Zaman said they got the body as being unidentified.

With this, at least six bodies have so far been recovered from the river this month.