Ex-Kushtia MP Abdur Rouf denied bail, sent to jail

A Kushtia court has rejected the bail petition of former Kushtia-4 constituency MP Abdur Rouf and sent him to jail.

Kushtia Senior Judicial Magistrate Mahmuda Sultana passed the order today (3 October), Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the court Iskandar told The Business Standard.

"Rouf's lawyer appealed for bail but the court rejected the plea and ordered him to be sent to jail," he said.

On 1 October, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Abdur Rouf, in connection with the murder of BNP activist Sujan Malitha, 45, in 2019, from Dhaka's Mirpur.

The next morning, he was handed over to the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Police said five years after Sujon Malitha's murder, a case was filed on 29 September by a man named Sujon Hossain, who claimed to be a party member.

In the case, Rouf has been named the 8th accused.

According to the case statement, Sujon returned home after attending a BNP programme on the night of 13 September 2019. Around 12:20am, the accused forcibly took him from his home. Later, around 1:30am, he was shot dead near the eastern bank of the Molla Teghoria canal area in Kushtia.

Plaintiff Sujon also mentioned that the accused had intimidated and threatened them, preventing the filing of the case for the last five years.

Investigating officer of the case Sub-Inspector Khairuzzaman told TBS, "We will proceed with the court hearing once we receive necessary orders. No remand application has been submitted as of now."

Meanwhile, Abdur Rouf's wife, Jannatun Nahar, claimed that her husband has been falsely implicated in the case.

"This is a fabricated case filed to frame him," she said.