Mohammad A Arafat, the Awami League lawmaker representing Dhaka-17, has claimed that the involvement of BNP men in every sabotage, including burning 20 polling centres and torching trains, ahead of the 12th parliamentary election has been proved.
He said this at an emergency press conference at the party's Dhaka district office in Tejgaon on Saturday evening.
"In every attack, whenever technology is used, whenever anyone is caught, it is clearly seen that it is a leader or activist of Swechchhasebak Dal, Chhatra Dal, Jubo Dal or BNP. And many are also giving confessional statements after being caught,” he said.
Claiming that the BNP-Jamaat activists torched more than 20 polling centres across the country on Friday and Saturday, he said: "They also killed a member of the village police guarding a school in Rajbari. BNP-Jamaat men set fire to a Rakhine temple in Ramu. They torched two buses in Demra and Comilla. They vandalized and attacked private hospitals in Bhola.”
Arafat also said a group of politicians who are boycotting the polls, a section of civil society, are trying to spread propaganda to create confusion among the people.
"Going beyond the trend of democracy, they have again chosen the path they had in 2014-15," he said.
The Detective Branch (DB) Chief Harunor Rashid on Saturday said that they have arrested eight people including Dhaka city south unit BNP Joint Convener Nabiullah Nabi and five Jubo Dal activists, for their suspected involvement in setting fire to the Benapole Express train last night, leaving four passengers dead.
Addressing a press briefing at DMP Media Center, he said the DB Lalbagh and Wari Division jointly arrested them including Mansoor Alam, one of the planners and manpower suppliers, and Nabiullah, a shelter and financier from different areas of the capital.
Harun, also an additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said that the arrestees are - Dhaka South City BNP Joint Convenor Mohammad Nabiullah Nabi, Jubo Dal leader Kazi Mansoor Alam, Jubo Dal workers Md Iqbal Hossain Swapan, Md Russell, Delwar Hakim Biplab, Md Salauddin, Md Kabir and Md Hasan Ahmed.