A former Jubo Dal leader has been accused of stopping a vehicle carrying television journalists in Brahmanbaria’s Nabinagar and attempting to extort money under the pretext of collecting municipal lease fees.
The incident occurred around 12:30pm today (23 October) at Aliabad intersection on the Nabinagar-Brahmanbaria road.
The accused, Asaduzzaman Biplob, is a former organising secretary of Nabinagar municipal Jubo Dal.
According to accounts of the incident, several television journalists were travelling by microbus to Dharabhanga village in the upazila to gather news when a man stopped their vehicle and demanded lease fees.
The journalists told him their vehicle was covered by an exemption for emergency services. The man then allegedly blocked their vehicle and called Biplob to the scene.
Biplob subsequently behaved abusively towards the journalists and allegedly attempted to extort money under the guise of collecting the lease fee. At one point, he allegedly moved to assault them.
He also reportedly tried to intimidate the journalists by claiming to be the nephew of Abdul Mannan, a member of parliament for Brahmanbaria-5 (Nabinagar).
Javedul Islam, the leaseholder, said Biplob had been reprimanded for his misconduct towards the journalists. He added that the upazila executive officer and the lawmaker had called for the lease to be cancelled.
Nabinagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and Nabinagar Municipality Administrator Rakibul Islam apologised for the incident, saying there was no scope for collecting lease fees from journalists’ vehicles.
“I apologise for the unfortunate incident caused by the leaseholder’s men. There is no scope for collecting lease fees from a journalist’s vehicle, and steps are being taken to cancel the lease,” he said.
MP Abdul Mannan also expressed regret over the incident and denied Biplob’s claim of being his nephew.
“I have no nephew. I have asked the municipality authorities to cancel the lease,” he said.
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