A court in northern Tangail district town yesterday jailed ruling Awami League (AL) member of parliament Amanur Rahman Rana over the murder of another ruling party leader Faruk Ahmed.
Additional district and sessions judge Abul Mansur Miah passed the order when Rana, lawmaker from Tangail-3 constituency, surrendered before his court to seek bail.
More than a dozen lawyers moved for Rana while additional public prosecutor Monirul Islam Khan defended the state.
On April 6, a court issued a warrant for the arrest of the 10 accused in the Awami League leader Faruk murder case after accepting the charge sheet submitted on February 3 last by police inspector Golam Mahfizur Rahman.
Of the 14 charge-sheeted accused, five, including Rana, are now behind the bars while the rest nine are now on
the run.
Those absconding include Rana’s brothers Sahidur Rahman Khan Mukti, former mayor of Tangail municipality, and Jahidur Rahman Khan Kakon, a businessman of Tangail, and Saniyat Khan Bappa, former vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), student from of the AL.
Among the arrestees, Aminul Islam Raja and Mohammad Ali made their confessional
statements to law enforcers.
Faruk Ahmed, an AL senior leader and also a freedom fighter, was gunned down in the district town on January 18, 2013.
In June this year, Amanur Rahman Rana hit the headlines as though a fugitive, he signed the attendance sheet in parliament to save his membership in the legislature.
However, chief whip ASM Feroz and whip Shahiduzzaman Sarkar, said that they were not aware of any such development.
“It is possible that he might enter the parliament lobby and sign the attendance sheet to save his membership in parliament. But I am not sure about this,” said Shahiduzzaman.
“Amanur might have come to the lobby but this is for sure that he did not attend the parliament sitting because I was inside the parliament throughout the
sitting,” he added.
Police, on May 20, confiscated moveable assets of 10 fugitive accused, including Amanur, following a court order. Sources at the Parliament Secretariat said Amanur last attended a sitting last year. His membership might have been cancelled if he had missed the budget session, the sources said.
As per rules, an MP loses membership if he remains absent in parliament sessions for 90 sittings at a stretch without permission of the Speaker.