Fresh controversy has erupted in Hatiya upazila after a suspect wanted in nine cases, including a murder case, was snatched from police custody, with his family accusing local public representatives of wrongdoing at a press conference.

The suspect, Md Nizam Uddin, was arrested at Ramcharan Bazar in Hatiya after dusk, police said, and was then freed when a group surrounded the officers. Police said he faces nine cases under murder and other charges and is wanted on a warrant in one murder case.

Hatiya Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Kabir Hossain said Nizam’s relatives surrounded the police after his arrest and he escaped in the confusion. “Efforts are under way to rearrest him, and legal action will be taken against those who obstructed police in the course of their duty,” he said.

At a press conference at Noakhali Press Club at noon on Monday (Nov 9), Nizam’s family levelled various allegations against Salahuddin, a panel chairman of No. 3 Sukhchar Union, Nazim Molla and others, claiming they were involved in attacks on and torture of the family. Family members also accused the OC of refusing to register a case.

Salahuddin dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated, saying a group was spreading them ahead of the upcoming union parishad elections. He said Nizam’s relatives snatched him away while he was handcuffed, and that law enforcers subsequently searched their home. The family, he claimed, had staged the press conference to divert attention and sow confusion.