Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) East Detective Branch has arrested six people in connection with the vandalism and torching of police cars near BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters after conducting a special raid.
According to a press briefing by Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Chief Monirul Islam, at the DMP Media Centre around 1:45pm on Tuesday, the six were arrested in Dhaka's Sutrapur on Monday evening, in a raid that began around 5:30pm.
Later, they were produced before a Dhaka court with a 10 day remand prayer on Tuesday. After the hearing, the court granted five days remand for each of the accused.
The arrested are: Md HK Hossain Ali, follower of Mirza Abbas and No 11 ward Chhatra Dal president candidate; Shohag Bhuiyan, general secretary of Shahjahanpur police station Chhatra Dal; Md Abbas Ali, Chhatra Dal central committee member; Md Ashraful Islam Robin, general secretary, Dhaka Metropolitan North Chhatra Dal; Zakir Hossain Ujjal, joint secretary, Jagannath University unit Chhatra Dal; and Mahbubul Alam, vice president, Titumir College unit Chhatra Dal.
They were arrested, after being identified from video footage, for damaging police cars with sticks and provoking the police by baring their chests.
During interrogation, police were told BNP leaders had asked the attackers to wear helmets and they had wooden sticks with them beforehand.
Earlier, Nipun Ray Chowdhury, Ruma, Khaled Saifullah, Ibrahim Hossain, APC van, Rassel, Abul Hashem, Mamunur Rashid Khakon, and Amir Hossain were arrested in connection to this case.
Responding to questions, CTTC unit Chief Monirul Islam said: “The person who torched the police car has not been identified yet. We are still in the process of identifying, and then arresting, everyone related to this incident.”
He further said: “According to intelligence, investigation and primary interrogation, we think the motive for this clash was to incite political unrest before the upcoming election.
The CTTC chief also said police did not immediately act to control the uproar that day, because they wanted to return other police officers – who had become caught in the mob – to safety.
Regardless of the political identity of the helmet-wearers, legal action will be taken against them if they commit any criminal offences, Monirul Islam added.
“We only arrested people who were involved in criminal offences. We are not arresting any who are innocent and we will not do so,” the CTTC chief said.
When asked whether any of the people who attacked journalists at the Science Lab intersection during the road safety movement had been identified or arrested, the CTTC chief said: “A criminal offence is a criminal offence. We will not excuse anyone because of who they are or their political identity. Our investigation is still ongoing, and the culprits will be brought to book.”
What happened in Naya Paltan?
On November 14, BNP activists set fire to, and vandalized, police vehicles in front of BNP's Naya Paltan headquarters.
Police retaliated by firing teargas canisters and rubber bullets at the hundreds of BNP leaders and activists gathered at the headquarters—while the party was selling nomination forms for the December 30 election.
The clashes started when BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas came to purchase his nomination form.
Police and BNP have blamed each other for triggering the clash.
The party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also blamed the police for the clash and said it would only hamper the election atmosphere.
Three cases were filed over the incident—and at least 60 people were arrested and 30 others were identified through with the help of Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.
On November 19, police submitted a report to the Election Commission about the clash. After extensively reviewing the report at the commission meeting, Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed said the commission thinks the clash was a criminal offence.