Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner Md Harunor Rashid on Saturday said that Nurul Haque Nur, president of Gono Odhikar Parishad, received Tk4 lakh from a leader during the quota reform movement.
Harun, also the chief of Detective Branch (DB) of DMP, said that the elite agency is now trying to find out how and for what purpose the money was spent.
He shared this information at a press conference held at the DB office on Minto Road in the capital.
Harunor Rashid said: "We have obtained a lot of information from Nur during remand. These pieces of information are being verified. Nur has admitted one thing. During the movement, a leader gave him Tk4 lakh. We have also brought in that leader. He has admitted to giving Nur the money. We are questioning that leader to understand why he gave the money to Nur."
The DB chief said the police also found evidence of online communication with the coordinators of the quota reform movement.
Nur had spearheaded the anti-quota movement of 2018 and later became vice president of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) in 2019. He formed the political party in 2021.
The DB officials questioned Nur on various issues related to the movement during his five-day remand in a case filed over the vandalism and arson attacks on Setu Bhaban at Mohakhali.
Detectives allege that Nur instigated violence during the movement last week that claimed dozens of lives and left several thousand people injured. Massive destruction of public property was also committed.
Detectives say Nur suggested to Nahid and Sarjis that they press demands like the ouster of the government, resignation of the home minister, arrest of Chhatra League members involved in violence, opening educational institutions, and activating the Internet. He also called upon the agitators to participate in the shutdown program and continue the agitation till the fall of the present government.
Investigation Officer Inspector Abu Said Mia of the DB’s cantonment zonal team, told the court that Nur had maintained contact with Nahid Islam, Hasanat Abdullah, Sarjis Alam, Asif Mahmud, Akhtar Hossain and Ahnaf Said Khan since June 5, when the students first staged demonstrations against the High Court order reinstating the quota system, which was abolished through a government circular in 2018.
Nur had discussions with Nahid and Sarjis on July 17 and 18, the IO said. At 10pm on July 18, the duo had a discussion on their mobile phones and via SMS on ways of overthrowing the incumbent government.
Then Nahid and Sarjis messaged him and asked Nur to write down the demands.
Of the coordinators, Nahid, Asif and Ahnaf were former leaders of Chhatra Odhikar Parishad’s Dhaka University unit. In July last year, Asif and Ahnaf resigned from the committee, while Nahid formed a new platform named Democratic Student Force (DSF) on October 4 after a split in Gono Odhikar Parishad.
The quota movement began under the banner of general students of Dhaka University on June 6—a day after the High Court declared the abolition of the quota system in 2018 illegal. The students placed four points, including the abolition of the quota system in all grades of government jobs as ensured by a circular in 2018. They also gave the government time until June 30 to meet their demands.
The students resumed agitations at different universities on July 1, and the coordinators formed an open platform—Students Against Discrimination—on July 8, when their demonstrations occupying Shahbagh intersection gained the support of the masses and opposition political parties.
On that day, Nahid declared their one-point demand, asking the government to pass a law in Parliament by keeping a quota for the backward communities.
Apart from Nur’s Gono Odhikar Parishad, the BNP, AB Party, Ganatantra Mancha, Jatiya Party, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, and student groups like the Chhatra Federation and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal also expressed support for the movement.
Among them, the top leaders of the BNP and Chhatra Dal had asked the agitating students to oust the government through the movement.
Before the general election of January 7, Nur’s Gono Odhikar Parishad was part of Ganatantra Mancha—a platform of seven political parties waging an anti-government movement simultaneously with the BNP-led combine of around 70 parties. However, Nur left the platform in January last year because he felt neglected.