The Awami League has expelled Omar Farooq, a local leader in Dhaka, for his alleged links to the murder of another leader, Jahidul Islam Tipu.
The ruling party’s Dhaka Metropolitan South unit announced the decision on Saturday, hours after the Rapid Action Battalion said he was the mastermind behind the killing at Shahjahanpur.
“Huge coverage of the news of such terrorist activities has damaged the party’s image. Dhaka Metropolitan South Awami League will not bear responsibility for this,” it said.
Farooq was the general secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan Awami League’s ward-10 unit while Tipu was a former general secretary of its Motijheel unit, reports bdnews24.com.
Tipu lost his post after his arrest in a decade-long case over the 2013 murder of Jubo League leader Reazul Haque Khan Milky. He was later acquitted of the charges in the case.
He was gunned down under a flyover outside Manama Bhaban in the Amtala area on Mar 24. Samia Afnan Prity, a student of Begum Badrunnesa Government Girls’ College, was also killed by a stray bullet, while Tipu’s chauffeur 'Munna' was injured.
Farooq was among six people arrested in a case started by Tipu’s wife Farhana Islam Dolly against unidentified people.
Farooq was also tied to the 2016 murder of Rizvi Hasan Babu alias Bocha Babu, a local Jubo League leader.
Dolly, a city corporation councillor, said Tipu was pressured by Farooq and other suspects in the Babu murder case.
The suspects believed Babu’s father Abul Kalam, a person close to Tipu, would drop charges against them if Tipu requested Kalam to do so, according to Dolly.