Asim Sayeed, Jibannagar (Chuadanga)

The trial of journalist Abu Sayem's murder in Jibannagar, Chuadanga has not been ended even after a long nine and a half years. At the same time, his whereabouts of 20 lakh taka have not been found. Why did the disguised gunman Rajib Sarkar hack Sayem to death have not been explained for a long time.

A day after Sayem was murdered on July 7, 2015, that is, on July 9, his wife Afroza Khatun filed a case against three people at Jibannagar Police Station. The killers Rajib Sarkar and Saiful Islam Shiblu were accused in the case. And Samajul Islam was accused as a suspect.

The next day, the family members, with the help of the locals, arrested Rajib Sarkar from a neighboring village and handed him over to the police. Despite questioning the main killer Rajib, the police were unable to uncover any information about why he stabbed Sayem.

Within a short time, the Jibannagar police arrested the other two accused in the case. The police could not find any clues to the sensational murder even after taking the main killer and three accused on remand, so the murder case was later transferred to the CID for further investigation.

Although the case was sent to the CID, no significant results were obtained. Despite questioning the three accused who were arrested and in jail at the time, the CID investigation officer could not uncover any motive for the murder.

However, the CID charged the three arrested accused with Sayem's murder and issued a charge sheet. Although the charge sheet mentioned that the three accused were involved in Sayem's murder, no information was revealed about why they killed journalist Sayem. The three accused are currently out on bail.

When asked about this, the investigation officer of the case, Maruf Hossain of the CID, said, "I have filed a chargesheet in court against the three accused involved in Sayem's murder. The case is currently pending in court. Since the case is pending, I do not want to comment now.

Meanwhile, Sayem's family has not received an account of Tk 20 lakh after his murder. Journalist Abu Sayem took a CC loan of Tk 30 lakh from the Jibannagar branch of Janata Bank to expand his business. He used Tk 10 lakh for his business, which everyone in the family knew. However, four months before his death, he withdrew Tk 20 lakh from the same account, but his family did not know about it. The family does not know whether Sayem spent that Tk 20 lakh or gave it to someone else.

On the one hand, despite the passage of a long time, Sayem's murder has not been tried, and on the other hand, Sayem's members have been circulating various conversations on social media recently about his missing Tk 20 lakh. Family members claim that the Tk 20 lakh may be related to the murder.

In this regard, late journalist Sayem's nephew Musa Karim Ripon said, "When I went to the bank for the loan meeting, I found out that my uncle had withdrawn another 2 million taka from his CC loan account four months before his death, that is, on March 12, 2015, which no one in our family knew about. Later, when his financial transaction account, that is, the 3 million taka of the bank loan, did not match with the rice mill account, our family members became suspicious about that 2 million taka.

He said, when no trace of that 2 million taka was found even after investigating the uncle's various transactions, our family members became even more suspicious. The question arose whether this money was related to the murder. Later, the investigation agency was informed about the uncle's missing 2 million taka, but they did not pay any attention to the matter.

Ripon claims that since he did not invest his 20 lakh taka in his business, did not buy any land or premises, and the money was not transferred from any other bank account of his, we think that he may have transferred all this money hand to hand with someone close to his father in Jibannagar.

Regarding the police investigation, Ripon further said that the police station has been delaying the matter of uncle's murder from the beginning. We do not know why the murder was not taken seriously. Although the police found evidence of Rajib Sarkar's involvement in Sayem's murder, they could not reveal why Rajib killed Sayem. We and the local people also have questions about why the mastermind of Sayem's murder could not be found even after Rajib was remanded.

We firmly believe that if there was a proper investigation into the murder of journalist Abu Sayem under the supervision of an impartial police force under this impartial government, we would have known who the mastermind of the murder was. We demand a reinvestigation of this murder.