Case filed over four UPDF leaders’ murders in Khagrachhari

A case has been filed over the shooting death of four United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF) leaders in Khagrachhari’s Panchhari.

Nirupam Chakma, the uncle of victim Bipul Chakma, started the case against nearly 20 people at Panchhari Police Station on Wednesday, said Shafiul Azam, chief of the police station.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims have been taken to the Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital for autopsy. The authorities will hand over the bodies to their families afterwards, he said.

Gonotantrik Jubo Forum’s Organising Secretary Bipul Chakma, Pahari Chhatra Parishad Vice-President Sunil Tripura, Gonotantrik Jubo Forum leader Liton Chakma and UPDF member Rohin Bikash Tripura were shot dead by a group of unidentified assailants in a house in Lohang’s Anil Para village on Monday.

Police recovered the bodies and took them to the police station around 5:30 pm on Tuesday.

Three other UPDF leaders, Niti Datta Chakma, Harikamal Tripura and Prakash Tripura, have reportedly been missing since the incident.

A team of seven UPDF leaders and activists, including Bipul Chakma, visited Logang on Monday for organisational work. They were staying overnight in Anil Para village for a youth conference organised by the Gonotantrik Jubo Forum on Tuesday when armed assaulters attacked the house at night, according to Aungue Marma, a UPDF organiser.

Aungue blamed the Gonotantrik UPDF for the incident, but Shyamol Chakma, president of the Gonotantrik UPDF, refuted the allegations, suggesting that several organisations in the Chattogram Hill Tracts could have carried out the attack.