A case was filed on Wednesday against six named people and 20-25 unnamed others over the death of Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal leader Touhidul Islam after being detained by the joint forces in Cumilla.
The death of the leader of the youth front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party sparked widespread condemnations and criticisms.
Touhidul鈥檚 wife Yasmin Nahar filed the case with the Kotwali Model Police Station in the morning on Wednesday, said Mohinul Islam, officer-in-charge of the police station.
鈥極perations are going on to arrest the accused,鈥� he said.
The named accused are Saiful Islam, 45, a resident of Ramchandrapur village, Tanzil Uddin, 35, Nazmul Hasan Titu, 30, Khairul Hasan, 35, and Saidul Hasan, 45, residents of Italla village, and Sohail, 38, a resident of Bamil village of Cumilla adarsha sadar upazila.
Touhidul鈥檚 wife Yasmin said that Touhidul had a long-standing dispute with the accused over land.
The accused threatened to kill my husband several times, she said in the case documents.
According to the case statements, 20-25 people wearing plain clothes and army uniforms detained 40-year-old Touhidul from his house in Cumilla city with another person Lutfor Rahman at about 2:30am on January 31.
鈥楢t about 7:00am on the day, the six named accused along with the 20-25 people in plain clothes and army uniforms brought injured Touhidul and Lutfor to Touhidul鈥檚 house. Then they took Touhidul with them again, leaving Lutfor,鈥� Yasmin said in the case statements.
Later police informed family members that Touhidul was found unconscious in the embankment area of the River Gomti and was being taken to the hospital. Doctors at the Cumilla Medical College Hospital declared him dead at about 12:30pm on the day.
鈥楬e had numerous swollen bruises on various parts of his body. The accused had premeditatedly kidnapped Touhidul and tortured him to death due to the land dispute,鈥� said the case statements.
The Inter Services Public Relations Directorate in a press release on February 1 said that the Bangladesh Army withdrew the commander of a camp in Cumilla and formed a high-level probe committee over Touhidul鈥檚 death.
