Terrorist Imtiaz in jail for two months in Chittagong, still absconding in the case file

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Terrorists hurled a petrol bomb at a building in Chittagong City’s Bayezid 7 years ago after not receiving a contribution of Tk 10 lakh. A case was filed under the Extortion and Explosives Act in this incident. One of the accused in the charge sheet of the case is Imtiaz Sultan Ikram, a terrorist listed by the Chittagong City Police. Although the accused has been in jail for over two months, he has not been arrested in the Extortion and Explosives Act case. According to the case documents, Imtiaz is still absconding.

Imtiaz Sultan Ikram was once an associate of fugitive terrorist Sajjad Ali Khan alias Bara Sajjad abroad. He was arrested in a RAB weapons recovery case and has been in jail since February 18. The case filed against him seven years ago is currently awaiting trial, but neither the public prosecutor nor the police have applied for his arrest.

The petrol bomb incident took place on September 23, 2019. A petrol bomb was thrown on the second floor of the five-storey house of Abudal Wazed, a businessman in Oxygen Nayahat area of ​​Bayezid Bostami police station in the city. The police submitted the charge sheet to the court on October 18 of the following year in the case filed in this incident. It is said in the charge sheet that Imtiaz demanded Tk 10 lakh from the businessman on the instructions of the fugitive terrorist Sajjad. He threw petrol bombs at his house. In addition to Sajjad, Imtiaz, Sajjad’s associates Sarwar Babla, Nurnavi Maxon, Ruhul Amin, Md. Tuhin, Abdul Quader, Md. Javed, Raihan Ahmed and 9 people were accused. Among them, Sarwar and Noornavi are not alive at present.

The case is pending in the court of Sixth Additional Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge Muhammad Ali Akkas. On August 14, 2023, the court framed charges against the accused and started the trial. But as the witnesses did not appear, the testimony did not begin. Among the accused, Sajjad, Imtiaz and Raihan are absconding, while the rest are present.

Even though the last date of the extortion case was fixed on April 23, Imtiaz was not shown the arrest warrant, nor was he brought from the jail. According to the case documents, he is still absconding. The next date of the case is scheduled on July 2.

Lawyers said that if an accused is arrested and goes to jail, there is no opportunity to show absconding in other cases. He has to show Shone Arrest in that case.

According to police and court sources, RAB arrested Imtiaz from Bayezid Bostami Link Road in the city on February 17. 2 foreign pistols, 5 magazines and 56 bullets were recovered from him. At that time, one of his associates named Abul Kalam Azad was also arrested. In this incident, RAB became the plaintiff and filed a case under the Arms Act.

According to police sources, Ikram was once an associate of Bara Sajjad but now has a dispute with him. The day after his arrest, Imtiaz was sent to Chittagong Central Jail by the court.

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The captain of RAB-7 Chittagong Lieutenant Colonel Hafizur Rahman told Prothom Alo that the terrorist Sarwar Hossain Babla and the terrorist Md. Imtiaz used to extort money with Feroze. Once was in Dubai. Sitting there, they used to extort money as per the instructions of big sajjads. Imtiaz traveled to Dubai via India, later returned to the country.

Colonel Hafizur Rahman said, Imtiaz was known as a follower of former Chittagong city mayor and Awami League leader AJM Nashir Uddin. After being accused in the murder case of Chittagong schoolgirl Tasfia, he fled to Dubai via India. There he became friends with the terrorist Sarwar Babla.

Colonel Hafizur Rahman also said that Imtiaz used to collect extortion by calling foreign numbers on WhatsApp from traders in Bayezid Bostami, Oxygen, Muradpur areas of the city. Apart from this, the terrorist Imtiaz Sultan once also managed a notorious teenage gang group called ‘Rich Kids’. He often used to come and go in the country hiding his identity at various times.

Imtiaz has five cases of murder of schoolgirl Tasfia Amin, weapons, extortion and sabotage. According to police sources, Imtiaz worked for Sajjad Bara, but later a dispute arose between the two. The dispute has been ongoing since the handover of Chhota Sajjad in March last year. After that the terrorists along with Bara Sajjad, his accomplice Raihan have been threatening Imtiaz, which has been published in various media. After the threat, a guard was also placed at Imtiaz’s residence by the city police. Imtiaz’s wife Ruma Aktar told Prothom Alo that her husband was framed by RAB. Sajjad, a fugitive terrorist abroad, did this.

When asked why an application was not made to show the arrest of the terrorist Imtiaz, who was arrested in February this year, in a weapons case, Public Counsel (PP) Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan of the Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court told Prothom Alo, “We were not aware of the matter.” No information was received from the police. An application will be made to show the arrest soon. Abdul Karim, officer-in-charge of Bayezid Bostami police station, said, “We are taking action in this regard.”

Chittagong District Lawyers Association President Abdus Sattar told Prothom Alo that if a fugitive accused in a case is arrested in another case, the PP or the investigating officer of the police will request that he be arrested. If the PP or the police do not apply, the absconding accused can go out on bail quickly in the case in which he was arrested. He may not be arrested later. In this the accused will not come under trial. It will increase the crime rate.