Police find involvement of 43 Hefazat leaders in Ahmed Shafi's death

Police have found involvement of 43 Hefazat-e-Islam leaders, including the incumbent chief Junaid Babunagari and joint secretary general Mamunul Haque, in the death of their supreme leader Allama Shah Ahmed Shafi.

Banaj Kumar Majumder, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police and chief of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), confirmed the news to The Business Standard.

The PBI investigated the case filed over Ahmed Shafi's death and submitted its findings to the court of Chattogram Chief Judicial Magistrate on Monday afternoon, he said.

On 17 December, Md Mainuddin, the late Hefazat chief's brother-in-law, filed the case  with the Chattogram court accusing some 36 Hefazat leaders.

In the First Information Report, he claimed that the death of Ahmed Shafi, the rector of Hathazari Madrasa, was a "pre-planned murder."

Taking it into cognisance, the court ordered the PBI to investigate the case and submit its report in one month.

Hefazat chief Shafi died while being treated at a Dhaka hospital on September 18, a day after stepping down as the director general of the Hathazari madrasa in Chattogram.

The 104-year old Islamic scholar had long been suffering from various old-age complications, including diabetes and high blood pressure.