Kala Jahangir is a Bangladeshi gangster and a top-listed criminal of the Ministry of Home Affairs. [1] [2] [3] Journalist Aasha Mehreen Amin described him as "most feared gangster Kala Jahangir". [4] He has been described as a "mythical figure". [5] [6] He maintained ties with police and politicians for protection. [7] While there is an Interpol red notice on him, it is believed that he is dead. [8] [9]
Jahangir started criminal activities as a teenager. [10] He came from an educated family. [11] In 2001, the government issued a list of 23 most wanted gangsters which included Jahangir. [12]
Jahangir was a member of the Five-Star Group, which included Picchi Hannan, Dakat Shahid, and Zeesan Ahmed. [13] The group was active in Dhaka in the 1990s and early 2000s. [13] He was active in South Dhaka and Old Dhaka. [14] In 2000, his gang gunned down Humayun Kabir Milon alias Murgi Milon in Old Dhaka Court. [15] His gang gunned down Dhaka City Corporation Ward Commissioner Saidur Rahman Newton on 10 May 2002. [15] The Daily Star reported that his underage followers detained in the Juvenile Development Centre, Tongi, were torturing non-gang affiliated detained teenagers. [16] He was also accused in a case filed following the murder of Shahadat Hossain Sikder, another Ward Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. [17]
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina accused the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party of using Jahangir to support its candidate, Mosaddek Ali Falu, the Dhaka-10 by-polls. [18] Judge of the Speedy Trial Tribunal Court-2 of Dhaka Sheikh Jahangir Hossain alleged to the High Court Division that the government was pressuring him to release criminals ahead of the by-election. [19] Jahangir had a case with his court. [19] In June 2004, vice chairman of Bangladesh Jatiya Party Golam Parvez Didar was shot dead in Dhaka, and his family members blamed Jahangir, who had been threatening him for months. [20] In July 2004, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina reported she received a death threat from Jahangir while she was in Istanbul for the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation conference. [21] [22] Prime Minister Khaleda Zia responded by calling Hasina delusional. [21] The next month, Hasina was targeted in the 2004 Dhaka grenade attack. [23] [24]
Bangladesh Police arrested Sayeedur Rahman, who pretended to be Kala Jahangir, to extort money from local officials of World Bank. [25] His aid, Nasiruddin Molla alias Gal Kata Nasir, was detained from Khulna by Rapid Action Battalion. [26] In September, his aides Kajem Uddin Bhuiyan alias Bhutto and Mollah Shamim were killed in a gunfight with a joint unit of security forces called Cheetah and Rapid Action Battalion, respectively. [27] [28] Two of his aids were detained in Mirpur in November 2004. [29] Rapid Action Battalion killed his aide, Panu Howladar alias Kanu alias Russell, in a gunfight. [30] Police detained two of his accomplices when they went to collect extortion money from tax commissioners at the commissioner of income taxes in Khulna District. [31]
Indian intelligence allegedly hired Jahangir's gang to attack Indian separatist safehouses inside Bangladesh. [32]
Jahangir was acquitted of the attempted murder case on 16 December 1998 after the persecution failed to produce witnesses. [33] Jahangir was sentenced to death along with nine others, including Killer Abbas, for the murder of Saidur Rahman Newton in May 2006. [34] In 2008 the High Court Division maintained his death sentence for the murder of Advocate Habib Mandol, a leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. [35] The High Court Division reduced his jail sentence to life imprisonment in July 2011. [36]
In October 2007, Jahangir's second-in-command, Habibur Rahman Taj, was detained in Kolkata, India and handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department in Bangladesh. [37]