The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Tuesday said that around 9,000 of its leaders and activists have been arrested in countrywide raids that started days before their scheduled grand rally on October 28.
The police have been conducting raids on the homes of the opposition leaders and activists, vandalising their residences and terrorising family members, alleged the party.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also said that some of their leaders and activists remain untraced after being picked up by law enforcement agencies.
Gazipur’s Kaliakair upazila unit joint convener of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Ripon Mamhud was picked up by law enforcement agency from Dhanmondi on Sunday along with one of his friends, neither of whom could be traced till Tuesday night, said Rizvi.
The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of the police showed JCD leader Amanullah Aman arrested in police constable Amirul Parvez murder case on Tuesday, two days after he went missing after being picked up from Mohakhali in the capital by people claiming to be Detective Branch of the police.
CTTC officials, however, claimed that they arrested Amanullah Aman, joint secretary general of BNP, and formerly a prominent leader of the party’s student wing Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, from Mohakhali on Monday afternoon.
Briefing the media on Tuesday, CTTC chief Md Asaduzzaman said that Aman is the main accused and suspect of the police constable Amirul murder case.
He said that they identified Aman by analysing video footage of the incident.
The CTTC chief said that the attack on October 28 was a premeditated one.
Aman and his cohorts took position just in front of the centre stage of BNP’s mass rally. During primary interrogation, he confessed that they had prior directives to sabotage the event and attack the police, said Md Asaduzzaman.
During the violence, Aman and other Chhatra Dal activists started hurling brick chips at the police as they had orders from the top leaders. They also attacked the police with sticks and bamboo. Aman planned and executed the murder by following top leaders’ directives, said the police officer.
The JCD leader was remanded in police custody by the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court later in the day.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police data show that the number of cases against BNP leaders and activists in connection with violence since October 28 has reached 112 in the capital.
Over 2,000 people have been named as accused in these cases along with several thousand unidentified people, said the police.
The DMP also arrested 2,306 BNP supporters and activists in the past 17 days in violence cases until Tuesday morning, said DMP deputy commissioner for media Faruk Hossain.
The police have launched a crackdown against the main opposition BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami since the October 28 violence in the capital.
In a virtual briefing, BNP leader Rizvi said that another 496 leaders and activists of the party were arrested across the country in the past 24 hours until Tuesday evening.
With the fresh arrests, around 9,000 leaders and activists of the party were arrested in 11 days in connection with the foiled October 28 grand rally with 148 cases filed.
In Khula, 85 BNP leaders and activists, including central leader Azizul Bari Helal and district unit BNP member secretary Monirul Hasan Bappi, have been sued over torching a bus in Khulna’s Rupsha upazila on Sunday night, during the countrywide 48-hour blockade called by the BNP, the United News of Bangladesh reports.
So far, eight people have been arrested in connection with the arson incident, Rupsha police officer-in-charge Md Shahin said.
New Age Tangail correspondent reported that 168 BNP leaders and activists were arrested in six cases filed with different police stations in the district since October 28.
The six cases were filed against 794 people of whom 194 have been named.
The Rapid Action Battalion said that the force has arrested 33 opposition leaders and activists on violence charges in last 24 hours till Tuesday evening.
According to the BNP, at least 45 Swechchhasebak Dal leaders and activists were arrested across the country on Monday night and Tuesday.
Besides, 55 party leaders and activists were arrested in Bogra, 25 in Gaibandha and 16 in Cox’s Bazar, according to the party.
New Age
