Staff Reporter:
Awami League leader and former shipping minister Shahjahan Khan was put on a seven-day remand on Friday in a case filed over the killing of a teenage protester during the 4 August anti-government movement.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbub Ahmed granted the remand plea made by investigating officer Sub-Inspector Md Khokon Mia during a hearing on Thursday. The police officer initially sought a 10-day remand for quizzing Shahjahan Khan.
Shahjahan Khan, a presidium member of Awami League, was arrested by detectives hours earlier.
On 4 August, Abdul Motaleb, 14, took part in student-led demonstrations in the capital’s Dhanmondi area for demanding the resignation of Sheikh Hasina-led autocratic government. At one point, he sustained bullet injuries, possibly due to firing by police or Awami League activists, to his chest and neck, leading to his death.
On 26 August, the teenager’s father Abdul Matin filed a murder case naming 176 individuals, including Sheikh Hasina and Shahjahan Khan, as accused. The case filed with the Dhanmondi Police Station also has 250-300 other unnamed persons as accused.
In 1986, Shahjahan Khan was elected as a lawmaker for the first time as an independent candidate from Madaripur-2 parliamentary seat. Since 1991, he has won the seat in every general election. He was appointed the shipping minister for the first time in 2009, and subsequently got embroiled in numerous corruption allegations. In 2018, he sparked the most controversy and anger by making adverse remarks about a road accident that killed school children and led to massive protests against the road transport sector controlled by him.
