Kushta’s former Superintendent of Police (SP) SM Tanvir Arafath has been shown arrested in the murder case of BNP activist Kudrat Ali, who was shot dead in the Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia in 2020.
He has been languishing in Kushtia jail in another BNP activist murder case since December 26, 2023.
Today, Monday (July 28), Tanvir was brought and produced before the Senior Judicial Magistrate of Daulatpur Amli Court, Mostafa Parvez.
Following the hearing, the court ordered that he be shown arrested in the case and sent back to jail.
Tanvir Arafath had previously served as Deputy Police Commissioner at the DIG Office of Sylhet Range. His ancestral home is in Khalishpur upazila of Khulna district.
Tanvir was arrested as the prime accused in another murder case involving BNP activist Sujon Malitha in Kushtia on December 26, 2023. A court sent him to Kushtia hail.
The Kudrat Ali Murder Case: Allegations and Background/
Kudrat Ali’s son filed a murder case with Daulatpur Police Station on October 2, 2024.
According to the case statement, Kudrat Ali was an active activist of the BNP whose political involvement and rising popularity allegedly posed a threat to the ruling Awami League and certain members of the police. The complaint alleges that a planned conspiracy was devised to eliminate him.
The plaintiff alleged that on the night of July 23, 2020, a police team led by then-Investigation Officer of Daulatpur police station Nishikanta Sarkar, including SI Roknuzzaman, SI Mehedi Hasan, SI Shahjahan, ASI Anichur Rahman, and then-SP Tanvir Arafat, abducted Kudrat Ali from his home in Munshiganj village og the upazila.
For the next two days, the family had no information about his whereabouts. Then, early on July 25, they received news that Kudrat had been forcibly disappeared, shot dead, and that his body was being held at the police station.
Upon seeing the body, family members observed signs of bullet wounds and torture on his chest, back, face, arms, and legs. The body was later released from the morgue and buried.
The plaintiff further alleged that when he tried to file a case after the burial, the investigation officer threatened him, saying he would face the same fate if he proceeded.
Only after the political climate changed did the family feel safe enough to file the case.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Daulatpur Police Station Solaiman Sheikh said that a petition was submitted to the court to show Tanvir Arafat arrested in this case, which the court has granted.
Sujon Malitha Murder Case to run/
SP Tanvir Arafat is also implicated in the 2019 murder of BNP activist Sujon Malitha, who was shot dead on September 13 that year in Takimara village of Kushtia Sadar upazila. On September 29, 2023, Sujon Hossain—a political associate of the victim—filed a case at Kushtia Model Police Station, naming 15 individuals and identifying 10 to 12 others as unknown accused.
The deceased, Sujon Malitha, was the son of Ismail Malitha.
The plaintiff, Sujon Hossain, is the son of Abdur Razzak from the Mill Line area of Kushtia town.
The court has ordered that both cases proceed against the former SP.
Aman/