Killed in attack on BNP candidate’s campaign in Ctg: Who was Sarwar Babla?
Sarwar Babla was killed today in an attack by armed assailants during a political campaign event for BNP's nominated candidate for Chattogram-8, Ershad Ullah.
On March 30 this year, miscreants on motorbikes had chased and opened fire on a private car along the Bakalia access road, killing two people inside after a half-hour pursuit. Six people were in that car, including Babla. Though two of his accomplices died in that attack, Babla managed to escape.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. At the time, an injured associate told police that Babla had been the intended target.
Police records show that Sarwar Babla had a long criminal history, with multiple cases filed against him at various police stations over the years. He had been arrested several times for illegal possession of firearms, including AK-47 rifles, magazines, bullets, and LG guns.
Babla was once a close associate of Sajjad Hossain Khan, one of the accused in the infamous murder of eight Bangladesh Chhatra League (now banned) leaders in Chattogram. After falling out with Sajjad, Babla reportedly formed his own gang.
His name -- along with that of his associate, Nurunnabi Maxon -- became widely known in Chattogram's crime circles nearly 15 years ago. In July 2011, police arrested Maxon in the Singerbil area of Brahmanbaria. Based on his confession, Sarwar was captured couple of days later from Chattogram's Bayezid Bostami area.
During the operation, police recovered an AK-47 rifle, two pistols, an LG, two AK-47 magazines, and several rounds of ammunition from their possession.
After their release on bail in 2017, both men reportedly went to Qatar. While in Qatar, Sarwar was arrested over a fight and sentenced to one month in jail before being deported to Bangladesh. Upon arrival at Dhaka Airport on February 8, 2020, police detained him and transferred him to Chattogram the next day.
A subsequent raid on his residence in Khandakiya Para led to the recovery of an AK-22 rifle, 30 rounds of ammunition, and an LG gun with four bullets.
Sarwar was again arrested on July 27 last year during the July uprising but was released on bail soon after August 5, last year.
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