Actor Sohel killed for protesting unethical activities at Tramps Club: RAB
Ashish, the prime accused in the murder case, was arrested from the capital’s Gulshan on Tuesday night
Actor Sohel Chowdhury was killed by criminals after he protested against their unethical activities at a club in the capital, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officials said, shining light on the 24-year-old mystery surrounding the artist's death.
The revelations came when RAB arrested Ashish Roy Chowdhury alias Botol Chowdhury, on Tuesday night from Gulshan of Dhaka. Ashish was one of the accused in a murder case filed for Sohel's killing in 1998.
Briefing reporters on the case on Wednesday, RAB officials said that back in the late 1990s, the now-defunct Tramps Club in Banani, owned by Ashish and Asadul Islam alias Bunty Islam, was used for immoral activities by criminals.
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At one point, the club became a meeting point for underworld figures of the time, including Aziz Mohammad Bhai, and criminals like Sanjidul Islam alias Emon, said RAB officials, citing Ashish.
Sohel Chowdhury, with the mosque committee of the nearby Banani Jame Masjid, repeatedly tried to stop the "illegal and immoral activities" at the club, which ended up hurting the business interests of the club owners and Dhaka's criminal godfathers.
This led to a confrontation on 24 July 1998, between Sohel and mob boss Aziz who used the club as a safe house, said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director, Legal and Media Wing of RAB.
The club owners and Aziz hired notorious criminal Emon to get rid of Sohel and on 19 December 1998, Emon shot Sohel Chowdhury outside the Tramps Club, said Commander Moin.
A murder case was filed in this regard with Gulshan police station following a complaint lodged by Sohel's brother Towhidul Islam Chowdhury.
On 30 July 1999, Abul Kashem Bepari, additional police commissioner of the Detective Branch (DB), submitted a charge sheet against nine people in the case.
On 30 October 2001, Dhaka's third additional metropolitan sessions judge court framed charges against the nine accused. The case was later transferred to the Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal-2.
Following a petition of an accused in the case, the High Court stayed the proceedings of the trial in 2003.
The trial of the case has remained suspended for 19 years since. Of the nine accused in the case, two, including Ashish, had remained absconding, but Ashish's luck ran out yesterday when RAB arrested him from a house in Gulshan.
He had left his Mirpur DOHS house and rented a flat in Gulshan after a new arrest warrant was issued on 26 March this year.
He had been hiding in this house since 30 March, RAB said.
