A Dhaka court on Monday placed Bangladesh Labour League leader Md Azmain Hossain Sohag on a three-day remand in a case filed over an attack on the motorcade of late former prime minister Khaleda Zia in 2015.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque passed the order after a hearing on Monday.
Earlier, Tejgaon Police Station Inspector Abdul Hannan, the investigation officer in the case, produced Sohag before the court and sought a 10-day remand.
Sub-Inspector Arif Reza of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s prosecution division confirmed the matter.
Sohag’s lawyer, Md Rafiqul Islam, sought bail and opposed the remand plea. The prosecution opposed bail and sought his remand. After hearing both sides, the court granted three days of remand.
According to the case statement, Khaleda Zia, then chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), came under attack in the capital’s Karwan Bazar area on April 20, 2015, while campaigning for BNP-nominated mayoral candidate Tabith Awal in the Dhaka North City Corporation election.
Her motorcade was allegedly attacked in front of the Bapex building, Palli Bhaban, the Family Planning Office and Kabbokash Super Market.
The complaint alleged that leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliated organisations, armed with weapons, carried out the attack as an unlawful assembly.
Several vehicles in Khaleda Zia’s motorcade were vandalised, while several BNP leaders and activists, along with members of her security team, the Chairperson Security Force (CSF), sustained serious injuries, according to the complaint.
In the remand petition, the investigation officer said Sohag needed to be interrogated to identify and arrest other accused, recover weapons allegedly used in the attack and uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident. The petition also expressed concern that he might go into hiding if released on bail.
Police said Sohag was listed as accused No 60 in the case and that preliminary interrogation had yielded information and evidence suggesting his direct involvement in the incident.
According to the first information report (FIR), political influence prevented the filing of a case at the time. On August 22, 2024, Md Bellal Hossain, general secretary of the BNP’s ward No 26 unit in Dhaka, filed the case, naming former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 107 others, along with 500–700 unidentified people.
Police arrested Sohag in the capital’s Jatrabari area on June 12. He has remained in jail since then.