Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Nurul Islam Investigation Report Rejected
The family of the late Ganatantri Party chief Nurul Islam, who died on December 4 in a fire that broke out in his house the previous day, rejected the investigation committee report which claimed the fire was an accident caused by an electric short-circuit. The report said the ‘fire’ had resulted from an explosion of the ‘gas cylinder’ in the fridge, caused by an electric short-circuit, but a report on private television channel ATN Bangla on December 3 showed the lower back portion of the fridge was more or less unaffected and the fridge compressor did not explode (picture below), as confirmed by Md Ruhul Amin, additional deputy police commissioner of Tejgaon.
The report does not adequately address the fact that the “fire” which led to the death of Mr. Nurul Islam and Mr. Islam Tamohar was not a conventional one for two reasons. Most of the damage was limited to a relatively small area, leaving many flammable items such as papers, books, and plastic products which were all within 5-6 feet from the refrigerator were almost intact. The lower parts of the wall, the floor as well as objects that were 2 to 3 feet from the ground sustained little or no damage. On that note, there were little signs of burn on the body of Tamohar Islam.In addition, eye-witnesses, including Nurul Islam himself and the neighbors who tore down the door did not mention seeing flames – they only noticed heavy smoke and intense heat.
There have been repeated claims by the family members of Nurul Islam that the refrigerator blamed for the fire was not functional and has remained unplugged for 3 years. However, the investigation authorities have consistently disregarded this fact, without providing any reasons for believing otherwise. The report does not mention what evidence led them to conclude that the fridge was indeed plugged in at the time of the incident.
There have also been repeated claims by Nurul Islam, his family members and colleagues that he had been receiving threatening calls. However, the report also fails to provide evidence regarding why the investigative authorities believe that such claims were not well grounded. This report directly puts into question the last words of Nurul Islam and also those of people like Rashed Khan Menon, Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled and numerous other luminaries, who have mentioned in numerous media channels that they were aware that Nurul Islam was receiving threatening phone calls.
Due to these inconsistencies, we would request the relevant authorities to review the assumptions and conclusions of this report and re-open the investigation of this case if required.
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