Hasan Mahmud, Nowfel, S Alam, sued for murder

A murder case was filed yesterday against former foreign minister Hasan Mahmud, S Alam Group Chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office Tofazzal Hossain Mia and 270 others.
Nazim Uddin, office secretary of the Chattogram district (north) unit of Jubo Dal, the youth wing of the BNP, filed the case with Chattogram Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court.
The court ordered the Rangunia Police Station to register the case, said plaintiff’s lawyer Ashraf Hossain.
The case accuses 270 named persons and 150 unnamed.
The other accused are former education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury Nowfel; former Chattogram city mayor AJM Nasir Uddin; former MPs Abu Reza Nadvi, Abdul Motaleb, Abduch Salam, and Fazle Karim Chowdhury; Central Awami League Office Secretary Biplob Barua; Central Awami League member Aminul Islam; Bhorer Kagoj Editor Shyamal Dutta; and S Alam Group chairman’s personal assistant Akij Uddin, among others.
The rest of the accused are leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliate organisations.
According to the case statement, under the leadership of Hasan Mahmud, the accused razed hills in the area for real estate companies in the port city.
The accused had been selling soil collected from the hills in Chattogram and other places through a syndicate. However, due to fear, no one dared to speak out against them at the time, the statement added.
On December 30, 2017, a landslide in the Rajanagar area under Rangunia killed three people, including a child.
The statement states that the landslide occurred as a result of the accused’s indiscriminate hill-cutting as the forest department and local administration were unable to take action against them.