The death of Ahmad Mostafa Khan Bachchu, president of the Enayetpur Upazila Awami League, in Sirajganj District Jail has ignited fresh accusations of political persecution under the interim government.
Bachchu, 80, succumbed to a heart attack at Sirajganj General Hospital on October 28 while in custody, after months of alleged torture and denied medical care in a fabricated case tied to the brutal August 4, 2024, attack on Enayetpur police station.
Despite overwhelming evidence implicating BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Chhatra Shibir, Hefazat-e-Islam, Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), and Khelafat Majlish membersโwho have publicly admitted their rolesโAwami League leaders like Bachchu were scapegoated, rights groups claim.
The assault on Enayetpur police station, one of the deadliest episodes of the July Revolution, saw 15 officers beaten to death, the facility looted and set ablaze, and arms stolen in a coordinated mob attack.
Eyewitness accounts, livestreams, and videos captured attackersโmany appearing as young activists from Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical Collegeโstorming the station with sharp weapons, sticks, and petrol bombs.
Reports from the scene identified participants as affiliated with BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, alongside student “coordinators” from allied Islamist groups like Islami Chhatra Shibir (Jamaat’s student wing), Hefazat-e-Islam, Islami Andolon Bangladesh, and the Mamunul Haque faction of Khilafat Majlish.
“The gathering included students, BNP and Jamaat activists, and people of different classes and professions,” witnesses told bdnews24.com during the chaos.
Despite this digital trailโpublicly available on platforms like YouTube and social mediaโthe initial FIR shockingly accused local Awami League figures, including Bachchu, of orchestrating the killings. The charge sheet labelled most perpetrators as “unidentified,” shielding the true culprits.
Bachchu was arrested on April 24, 2025, and jailed without bail, facing four cases, including murder charges for the 15 slain officers. Family members allege he endured systematic abuse and was refused treatment for chronic age-related illnesses, including heart issues.
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“This was not a natural death; it was a planned killing driven by political vengeance,” Bachchu’s relatives told reporters outside the hospital, demanding a transparent autopsy and probe.
Prison officials countered that he was rushed to the hospital around 9am after collapsing and died at 10 a.m., attributing it to a heart attack. Sirajganj District Jail Superintendent ASM Kamrul Huda insisted medical aid was prompt, but Awami League leaders decried it as “state negligence-induced killing,” calling for an independent investigation into custodial deaths post-revolution.
The controversy deepened with admissions from the perpetrators. On January 12, 2025, Md. Saidur Rahman Bachchu, general secretary of Sirajganj District BNP, boasted at a Baghabari rally: “The backbone of the police broke after killing 15 policemen at Enayetpur in Sirajganj, which accelerated the 2024 movement.”
He later dismissed it as a “slip of the tongue,” but the remarkโcaptured on videoโconfirmed BNP’s hand, analysts say.
Leaders from Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolon, and Hefazat have echoed this in public statements, admitting the attack’s role in toppling the Awami League government.
No arrests of these admitted assailants have followed, even as Police Headquarters tallied 44 officer deaths nationwide during the unrest, with Enayetpur’s toll the highest.
Instead, over 11,000 were detained post-uprising, many Awami League affiliates in cases critics call “trumped-up.”
Human Rights Watch and UN reports have flagged a pattern of selective prosecutions and custodial abuses under the Yunus-led interim regime.
Local Awami League chapters condemned Bachchu’s death as “judicial murder,” vowing protests. “Enayetpur remains tense; justice delayed is justice denied for our fallen comrades,” said a party spokesperson. BNP and Jamaat have not commented, amid broader calls for accountability in the revolution’s violent legacy.
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