Following a High Court order, Lalmonirhat police yesterday arrested two Awami League men for grabbing land of a poor Hindu family in Rasulpur village of Patgram upazila, Lalmonirhat.
The two – Anar Khan, 55, and his elder brother Sultan Khan, 58, both activists of the Awami League Bawra union unit – were arrested around 9:45am.
Three other accused in the case – President of the unit Rabiul Islam Miron, Vice-President Nazrul Islam and President of Jubo League unit in the union Mukul Hossain – are yet to be arrested.
The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh had filed a writ petition with the High Court following the publication of a report on the grabbing in a national English newspaper on March 2.
Upon hearing the petition on March 9, a High Court bench comprising Justice Kazi Reza-ul Haque and Justice ABM Altaf Hossain ordered police to arrest the land grabbers within 48 hours.
Police said the 32 decimals of land belonging to the Hindu family had been grabbed by the Awami League men on February 9 and the grabbers had started constructing structures on the land immediately after taking over.
The owner of the land Bhobani Kanta Sen lodged a case with Patgram police station on February 16 in this connection, saying he along with his two sons had been forced to sign a blank non-judicial stamp paper.
Police were yet to demolish the illegal structure and recover the blank stamp paper, said Bhobani Kanta Sen.
Some Awami League men had been threatening him and his family members to withdraw the case, he added.
Confirming the arrest of the two, Patgram police station Officer-in-Charge for investigation Prodip Kumar Roy said they had been trying to arrest all the land grabbers as per the High Court order and also recover the blank stamp paper.