Law enforcement agencies in Chattogram have launched an extensive manhunt to track down the killers of Sarwar Hossain Babla, who was shot dead during a BNP campaign event in Chattogram-8 constituency on Wednesday evening.
The killing, which unfolded in front of hundreds at a mass communication rally of BNP candidate Ershad Ullah, has now been confirmed by police as a targeted gang attack, not a political one — though the incident has shaken the city’s political circles.
Police closing in on suspects
“Evidence points clearly to Babla being the main target,” said Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz in a briefing on Thursday night. “We have already identified several suspects connected to the killing. They are associates of the fugitive gang leader Chhota Sajjad, currently believed to be operating from abroad.”
According to Aziz, the attackers — arriving on three motorbikes — ambushed the rally with automatic weapons and fled toward Hathazari’s rural belt, an area often used as a hideout by contract killers and extortion rackets.
“Some of the shooters are on our watchlist. We expect arrests soon,” the commissioner added.
“They said: Eat whatever you want — your death is coming”
The brother of the slain Babla, Aziz Hossain, who witnessed the incident, said his brother had been living under constant death threats from rival gang members loyal to terror kingpin Chhota Sajjad.
“For months, they used to call and say, ‘Eat whatever you want’—meaning his death was coming soon,” Aziz told Jago News. “We knew there was danger, but we joined the BNP campaign hoping the crowd would keep him safe.”
According to Aziz, Sajjad’s trusted aide Md. Raihan led the group that opened fire on the rally, killing Babla instantly and injuring several others. Witnesses reported that the gunmen arrived on motorcycles, fired indiscriminately, and fled through the narrow lanes of Chalitaloli before police reached the spot.
A turf war dressed as politics
Investigators believe the murder stemmed from a long-standing rivalry between Babla and his former mentor-turned-rival Chhota Sajjad, both well-known figures in Chattogram’s criminal network.
Police said Babla had been trying to reassert dominance over parts of Bayezid, Chandgaon, and Panchlaish, where Sajjad’s men control extortion and sand trading. The rivalry turned bloody several times over the past decade — including a failed assassination attempt in March 2024 that left two of Babla’s aides dead.
“This was revenge — not politics,” a senior investigator told Jago News on condition of anonymity. “The rally just provided the perfect cover for the attackers to find their target in public.”
BNP distances itself from slain gangster
Meanwhile, BNP leaders have continued to deny any organizational ties with Babla, despite his known proximity to several top figures.
“Babla was not an official member of the BNP. He may have attended rallies, but that doesn’t make him part of our structure,” City BNP Member Secretary Nazimur Rahman reiterated on Thursday.
However, photos and videos of Babla attending BNP events — including his wedding earlier this year, where senior BNP leaders were present — continue to circulate widely online, raising uncomfortable questions about the blurred line between politics and the underworld.
Barrister Shakila Farzana, a former BNP leader whose name surfaced in connection with Babla, clarified that she had “no political or personal relationship” with him.
“He came to meet me once, out of courtesy, after I returned from abroad. That was the only contact,” she said.
A history steeped in crime and survival
Police records show Babla had been accused in at least 15 criminal cases, including five murders. He spent several years in Chattogram Central Jail, before being released on bail after the fall of the Awami League government.
Once part of Sajjad’s faction, Babla broke away in 2015 and began operating independently, creating his own network of extortionists and political musclemen. Locals say he maintained deep influence in Bayezid’s contractor circles and often flaunted his political connections to ward off rivals.
His death, police say, was “inevitable” given the gang rivalry brewing beneath the election season’s surface.
Fear and silence in the port city
Since the murder, police have tightened security around Chattogram’s northern areas, setting up checkpoints and launching overnight raids in suspected hideouts.
“Such killings ahead of elections are deeply concerning,” said Commissioner Aziz. “We’ve asked all political parties to inform police before holding any public rally to avoid further incidents.”
Residents of Chalitaloli and Bayezid remain in shock. “We thought it was a political rally, not a death trap,” said a shopkeeper who witnessed the shooting. “Everyone is afraid now. You never know whose feud will explode next.”
As investigations unfold, Babla’s death has once again laid bare the uneasy overlap of guns, gangs, and politics in Chattogram — a city where electoral campaigns and criminal rivalries too often share the same stage.
For many in the port city, Wednesday’s killing is not just a murder — it’s a grim reminder that the fight for power in Chattogram rarely ends at the ballot box.