Chittagong Bureau

Some were stealing scraps from moving trucks. Fazlul Karim Chowdhury, Convener of Sitakunda Upazila Jubo Dal, was passing through the same route. He stopped the car to prevent scrap theft. Three thieves were also arrested. Scrap owner Abul Khair reported the number from the car driver to the group. But a gang promoted Fazlul Karim Chowdhury as an extortionist who took initiative to prevent theft. This misleading information is also disseminated in the media.

Fazlul Karim Chowdhury, convener of Sitakunda Upazila Jubo Dal, made such a complaint in a press conference at Chittagong Metropolitan Journalist Union Milnatan on Wednesday (September 11).

He said that the news published recently in some online and print media of the country that I was arrested for extortion is completely false, baseless and fabricated.

About the incident, he said, last September 7 (Saturday) at approximately 10:30 in the morning, I took my private car from our leader's house in Halishahar. On the way to Aslam Chowdhury's residence at Faujdarhat, a truck carrying scrap was unexpectedly noticed on the port connecting road of Halishahar Wapda Gate area.

My car was speeding behind the truck. I saw some teenagers throwing scraps from the top of the truck on the road with intent to steal. My private car was damaged when a piece of iron landed in front of my used car. Then I got down from the car and grabbed the teenage thieves from the truck and requested the driver of the truck to stand on one side of the road. I managed to catch 2 teenage thieves and one of their assistant rickshaw pullers with stolen goods in front of local shopkeepers.

'Then tell the driver of the scrap truck to call his company, the owner of the scrap. Then the driver told me, these are Abul Khair's steel scraps. I called Abul Khair Steel official Hasan's mobile number from the driver and gave the details. He told me, I am sending people from the factory.' Said Fazlul Karim Chowdhury.

He said, after waiting for about 2 hours, I called Abul Khair Steel official Hasan Sahib again. After some time, an army vehicle came and took me and Jamal, an employee of Abul Khair Steel, to the Halishahar police station and handed them over to the police. Halishahar Thana police kept me in police custody without understanding anything. At that time, a person took a picture of my confinement in the toilet and spread it on social media. After seeing that picture, the media published false baseless and fabricated news without investigating the details.

At around 7:00 pm, some officials including AGM Imrul of Abul Khair Steel came to Halishahar police station and presented the truth to the police officer in charge. When Imrul presented the detailed facts of the incident with the army, the army officer in charge and his team came to the Halishahar police station and freed me.

Some journalists have diverted this information and published false news. I and the leaders and activists of my organization strongly condemn this heinous false incident and strongly demand punitive action against such journalists and humbly request you to disclose the true incident that happened to me.

Convening committee member of Chattogram North District BNP Zahirul Alam Zahir, Yusup Nizami, former president of North District Volunteers Dal Morsalin, organizing secretary of North District Jubo Dal Arangzeb Mostafa, personal assistant of BNP former Yugum Secretary General Aslam Chowdhury Manjurul were present in the press conferenceIslam, Senior convenor of Sitakunda Upazila Youth Dal, Sahabuddin Raju, Convenor of Municipal Youth Dal, Member Secretary Ziauddin, Member Secretary of Upazila Chhatra Dal, Korban Ali Saheed, Convener of Municipal Chhatra Dal, Ismail Hossain and President of various Union Jubo Dal, General Secretary were present.