Nazim was withdrawn for his involvement in torturing the Bangla Tribune’s Kurigram district correspondent last week. In Kashipur in Monirampur upazila of Jashore district, that combined with the gaudy but expensively built house belonging to Nazim, raised questions among locals about his source of income.

Nazim and two other magistrates of Kurigram district were withdrawn on Monday for their involvement in torturing journalist Ariful Islam Rigan for his reporting on a corrupt coterie working out of the Kurigram  deputy commissioner’s office.

Out of Bounds
Though his paternal house was at Durbaghram village, his father Nisar Uddin, who passed away three years ago, used to live with his wife’s family at Kashipur.

Talking to UNB, locals said Nazim was known to be a brat since childhood.

Nevertheless after passing the HSC examination from Monirampur Govt College, he got admitted to Dhaka University in 2006.

His entry into the administration cadre came via the 33rd BCS examination.

Once he became a magistrate, Nazim became acutely aware of the power vested in him, and right from the early days he started abusing it. The locals were always kept under threat and fear was constantly stoked among the communities as a way to trample over them.

Golam Mostafa, general secretary of local ward Awami League, said although Nazim’s family are long-time AL supporters,  what he did by torturing the Tribune journalist was simply wrong.  

According to locals, Nazim’s father-in-law lives at Bhagabanpara in Monirampur upazila headquarters. Along with his US-expatriate brother-in-law, Nazim started the construction of a four-storey building on eight decimals of land worth Tk 14 lakh near his in-laws’ house at a cost of Tk 1.20 crore.

Besides, he is the owner of a commercial building erected on 5 decimals of land at Kashipur overseen by four CCTV cameras.

Photo:UNB

Locals urged the government to look into his income source.

Contacted, Nazim’s mother Mazeda Begum said she had heard from her daughter-in-law Sabina that there has been a problem created at his son’s workplace but does not know details.

Sabina said after hearing the issue at Monirampur Bazar on Sunday, she made a call to her husband but the phone was found switched off. Later on Monday morning, Nazim called her from a new number and said he was in trouble.

When asked about the house, she said her father gave the land to her and her sister. She with her sister is constructing the building. She is trying to manage bank loan now and her sister is now bearing the expense of the building construction.

Photo:UNB

Ariful Islam, district correspondent of online news portal Bangla Tribune, was given a one-year sentence and fined Tk 50,000 for ‘possessing narcotics’ by a mobile court constituted illegally.

The local administration claimed that Ariful was arrested with 450ml local liquor and 100g hemp. But Ariful’s wife Mostarima Sardar Nitu claimed that a group of law enforcers entered their home at Charuapara around Friday midnight and took away her husband forcefully without giving any reason or even searching the house. The banned substances were completely planted in the story, not even Rigan’s house.

After getting bail on Sunday, Ariful revealed he was tortured by the magistrates.