Missing Ilias made defense witness in Khaleda case

Former lawmaker and BNP Organising Secretary of Sylhet Division M Ilias Ali, who has remained missing for five years, was made a defense witness in the Zia Orphanage Trust Graft case.
Lawyers of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust Graft case made M Ilias Ali as the defence witness four years ago, one year into the disappearance of Ilias.
Police will interrogate lawyers in the case of Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, said Investigation Officer of the Ilias Ali missing case Abdul Motin Islam.
A lawyer of the Zia Orphanage Trust Graft case said police should investigate the disappearance of M Ilias Ali.  
IO of the Ilias Ali missing case told the Daily Observer on Sunday that police would investigate as to why M Ilias Ali was made a defense witness in the case of Zia Orphanage Trust Graft case.
Ilias Ali (51) along with his driver went missing while returning to his Banani residence on the night of April 17, 2012.
Ali's wife, Tahsina Rushdir, filed a general diary with Banani Police Station in connection with the missing incident.
BNP claimed that government agencies had picked up Ilias Ali. Police, of Banani Police Station in the capital, recovered the abandoned car of Ilias from near his Banani home on April 19 the same year. They found the driver's mobile phone on the passenger seat. The drive is also still missing.
Earlier, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia alleged that a government agency and Rapid Action Battalion picked up Ilias Ali from his car.
She asked the government to immediately return him.  She claimed that some people witnessed personnel of law enforcement agency pick up Ilias but the agency did not inform the party or the family about his whereabouts.
Born on January 1, 1961, at Ramdhana village under Biswanath Police Station in Sylhet, Ilias came under the spotlight during the autocratic regime of Ershad when he was studying at Dhaka University.
His name spread fast on campus as he was one of the top armed cadres of BNP-backed Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
He had taken part in many armed battles among student groups and intra-party conflicts. Ilias and 11 other students were expelled from Dhaka University in 1987 for violence on the campus.
He had been accused in several murder, arms and other criminal cases.
Ilias was elected Chhatra Dal general secretary during BNP's first tenure in 1991-1996. But the student body committee was dissolved within a few months as his faction of Chhatra Dal evicted the rival faction led by Ovee and Niru from campus.
There were several murders on campus during that time. Ilias was put behind bars for a while after the dissolution of the committee. He became a lawmaker in 2001 from Sylhet-3 constituency.