Jubee Odhikar Parishad has expelled Faruk Hossain, president of its Laxmipur district unit, following the viral spread of an audio clip on social media wherein he allegedly demanded extortion money by invoking the name of central party president and state minister Nurul Haque Nur. The disciplinary action was officially announced on Monday night through a press release signed by the central office secretary, Naim Hossain.
The controversy erupted earlier on Monday afternoon when an audio recording surfaced online, capturing Faruk negotiating financial transactions with an individual seeking to go abroad. According to party sources, Faruk demanded five lakh BDT to process a passport, visa, police clearance, and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) card, explicitly telling the victim that five lakh was mandatory under the directive of Vice President Nur.
In response to the incident, State Minister for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and Gana Odhikar Parishad President Nurul Haque Nur addressed the issue via a post on his official Facebook account. The minister sternly stated that no one would be allowed to evade accountability by exploiting his name for fraudulent activities, noting that instructions had already been communicated to the Laxmipur Superintendent of Police (SP) to take prompt legal action against the accused.
Rejecting all allegations, Faruk claimed that a local syndicate fabricated the audio clip by manipulating his voice using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. He asserted that his statements were severely distorted, explaining that he had merely asked for five thousand BDT from a younger acquaintance named Shakib to process a passport, which was maliciously altered to sound like five lakh BDT in the viral recording.
Elucidating the central leadership's stance, Jubee Odhikar Parishad General Secretary Muntazul Islam stated on Monday night that the central committee listened to the audio and proceeded with the expulsion after finding preliminary evidence of wrongdoing following consultations with high-ranking officials. The directive to strip Faruk of all organizational responsibilities was issued under the instructions of Central Committee President Nadim Hasan and General Secretary Muntazul Islam due to his involvement in activities contrary to organizational discipline and policy.
