Ex JCD leader accused in 33 cases released from jail

Published : Sunday, 13 April, 2025 at 6:53 PM Count : 538

Ex Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leader Jakir Khan, accused in 33 criminal cases including murder, was released this morning after three years in jail.

Mohammad Forkan Wahid, jail super of Narayanganj district jail, said he walked out around 10:15am after all necessary legal procedures were completed.

Supporters gathered early outside the district jail with floral garlands and a motorcade to welcome Jakir.

After his release, he led a grand showdown through the city, causing a two-hour traffic jam on the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road, Bangabandhu Road, and nearby streets. Traffic normalised after nearly three hours.

Jakir was arrested by Rab on September 3, 2022 after he spent years in hiding.

He was accused in 33 cases, including charges of murder, extortion, arms possession, and drug-related crimes. But he secured bail or was acquitted in those cases after the fall of the AL government last year.

On January 7 this year, he and all the other accused were acquitted in the high-profile murder case of Sabbir Alam Khandaker, a former BKMEA vice president who was shot dead near his home on February 18, 2003.

Jakir's lawyer, Rajib Mondal, confirmed that Jakir now has no active cases.

He said, "Jakir Khan has been acquitted in 32 out of the 33 cases filed against him. In one case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1994, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The sentence was later reduced to eight years upon appeal in the High Court, and further brought down by another three years following a review petition in the Supreme Court. He was released from prison after serving the full term of this final sentence."

Local political leaders say Jakir began his political career in the 1990s with the Jatiya Party's student wing before joining JCD. He gained infamy as a "cadre" and became JCD's district president in 1999. After being named in the 2003 Sabbir murder case, he went into hiding. He was arrested nearly two decades later in 2022.

At a press conference after his arrest, Lt Colonel Tanvir Mahmud Pasha, then-commanding officer of Rab-11, stated that Jakir fled to Thailand after the murder of Sabbir and was sentenced in multiple cases. He later returned to Bangladesh via India. Jakir Khan built a large criminal and drug empire in Narayanganj, even killing rival gangster Dayal Masud in broad daylight. Despite being abroad, he continued to control his followers in the city, according to Rab.

After the previous government's fall, Jakir's followers were accused of asserting control over local sectors, including transport and the jhoot (garment waste) business. On September 22, a violent clash involving gunfire erupted at the city's central bus terminal between Jakir's supporters and a rival BNP faction over control of a transport route.

FP/MI