The National Citizens Party on Tuesday suspended its Chattogram city unit joint coordinator, Nizam Uddin, over allegations of demanding Tk 5 lakhs to suppress a movement centring the Chattogram port.
The suspension was announced in a statement signed by NCP Joint member secretary (office) Saleh Uddin Sifat.
The statement said that, based on media reports, Nizam faced allegations of financial misconduct and serious violation of party discipline.
As preliminary evidence supported the claims, he has been barred from all organisational activities, it said.
He has also been asked to submit an explanation to the party鈥檚 central disciplinary committee chief within 48 hours.
He needs to explain why he would not be expelled from the party, the statement said.
A day earlier, on August 11, Nizam was served a show-cause notice by the city unit joint coordinator (office) Arif Moinuddin over the same allegation.
That letter stated that a video published in various media outlets on August 10 appeared to show Nizam seeking money to halt a Chattogram port-based protest, prompting charges of breaching party discipline.
The controversy began on August 10 when a video went viral on Facebook showing Nizam demanding Tk 5 lakhs during a conversation with another individual to stop the movement.
Earlier, on July 5, a woman named Riazul Jannat lodged a written complaint with the Chattogram Metropolitan Police commissioner, accusing Nizam of attempting to extort Tk 2 crore from her.
She claimed that after her refusal, Nizam, then serving as member secretary of the Student Against Discrimination Movement鈥檚 Chattogram city unit, had her husband falsely implicated in a case. He was suspended from his post at the time but was later reinstated.
Earlier, six leaders of the Students Against Discrimination and the Bangladesh Ganatantrik Chhatra Sangsad were arrested at Gulshan in July over allegations of collecting extortion money from the house of Shammi Ahmed, the international affairs secretary of the Awami League, identifying themselves as SAD coordinators.
They were expelled from their posts following their alleged involvement in the extortion case.
Three of them confessed their involvement in the extortion before the court, and all of them were later sent to jail upon completion of their remand in police custody.
A number of the student and youth leaders who led the July uprising that ousted the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 formed the NCP in February this year.
