NAYAPALTAN CLASH
Mirza Abbas, wife among 488 sued
Nipun Roy, 67 others held; Baby Naznin detained briefly
Staff Reporter, Dhaka
Police yesterday sued 488 people, including senior BNP leaders Mirza Abbas and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, in three cases filed with Paltan Police Station over the Wednesday clash between the law enforcers and BNP supporters in front of the partys central office at Nayapaltan in the capital.
BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas and his wife Afroza Abbas were implicated in the cases filed on charges of vandalising and torching of cars, assaulting police and obstructing government duty, said Mahmudul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Paltan Police Station. Similar charges have also been pressed against BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Nabiullah Nabi. In another development, popular singer and BNP executive committee member Baby Naznin was briefly detained in connection with one of the three cases last evening.
Baby Naznin and Nipun Roy Chowdhury, another executive committee member and daughter-in-law of BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, were among 68 people detained in connection.
Although Naznin was released, Nipun Roy Chowdhury was still under detention.
Detective Branch Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten confirmed the brief detention of Naznin and said details of the event will be informed later.
Police detained them from Kakrail area while they were returning home after attending a press conference in the capital, said BNP sources.
Meanwhile, the police have also indentified the person who set fire with a match to a police vehicle without helmet on Wednesday. He is Shahjalal Khandaker Kabir, a member of the convening committee of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dals (JCDs) Paltan unit, Mishu Biswas, assistant commissioner (Motijheel zone) of DMP, told.
However, a man who was seen breaking the vehicle could not be identified. He was putting on a helmet and a black t-shirt. But others who participated in the vandalism have already been identified.
Two images went viral following the Wednesday clashes. They show two people, one of them torching a police car and another breaking it. The police are yet to arrest them. Law enforcers raided the house of a JCD activist, but did not detain him.
Another youth, Shohag Bhuiyan, a JCD activist, has been identified as the vandal seen hopping on the vehicle, claimed the police officer.
A total of 488 people were sued in three cases with Paltan police station. The case numbers are 21, 22 and 23, said DMP deputy commissioner (media and publicity) Masudur Rahman.
In all, 192 people have been accused in case no. 21 and 19 of them have been arrested. As many as 159 people are accused in case no. 22 and 23 of them have been arrested. Also, 137 people are accused in case no. 23 and 26 of them have been arrested.
Among the arrested, 38 have been remanded for five days while 27 of them were interrogated at the jail gate.
Earlier, DMP commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said at a press briefing that the police identified and arrested around 60 people involved in the attack and three cases were filed. All the attackers belonged to the BNP or allied parties, he added.
Mia also blamed Mirza Abbas for the clashes. We had told him not to bring people. But he did not listen. The chaos started after he led the procession to the area, he said.
In all, 23 police personnel, including five officers, were seriously injured in the clash and are under treatment. They were attacked with bamboo sticks and brickbats, The BNP activists attacked two police cars and an APC van before torching the vehicles, mentioned the DMP chief.
The DMP chief said they thought it was not just an attack on the police. It was a plan to create major incidents. We identified the culprits and arrested 60 people, he added.
The DMPs Detective Branch and the Mothijeel Crime Division have been assigned to carry out an investigation into the violence, said the DMP chief.
On Wednesday, violence broke out in the area of Nayapaltan around 12:45pm, when BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas, along with several hundred party activists and supporters, was proceeding towards the BNP office to collect the nomination form for Dhaka-8 constituency.
The agitated activists allegedly set fire to two police vehicles and a private car. They also damaged several others, while the police charged batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse them.
DMP additional commissioner Monirul Islam told reporters that without any provocation they wanted to create an issue for attacking the police.
BNP supporters, led by standing committee member Mirza Abbas, had attacked the police without any provocation, Awami League (AL) general secretary Obaidul Quader alleged earlier in the day.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the attack had been carried out at the directive of the head of the government.
On the fourth day of selling of nomination forms, BNP leaders and activists turned up in large numbers, but the situation was peaceful. Additional police force was deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
