A case has been filed against 18 BNP-Jamaat leaders for an arson attack on a police-requisitioned bus that left one traffic police constable dead and two others injured on Tuesday night at the capital’s Bangla Motor.
The list of accused include BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir, BNP senior leaders Mirja Abbas, Gayeshwar Roy and Aman Ullah Aman, said police.
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner at the Media Centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said the case was filed with the capital’s Ramna Police Station.
Details of the case statement and names of other accused were not immediately known.
A traffic constable, Ferdows Khalil, 42, was burnt alive and two other constables – Faizur Rahman and Bayezed Ahmed – sustained injuries when the criminals hurled a petrol bomb on the bus at 11:15pm.
The victims were trapped inside the bus as the fire engulfed it in no time.
The criminals also set off 10 to 12 crude bombs while fleeing the scene to incite panic.
Witnesses said a group of people, two of them riding a motorcycle, hurled petrol bombs while the vehicle was on its way to Rajarbagh carrying the policemen at the end of their duties for the day.
The injured Ferdows and Bayezid are undergoing treatment at the Burn and Plastic Surgery unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Kongkon Mondol, an employee of the Dhaka Tribune, said he saw the bus on fire under the foot-over bridge at Bangla Motor intersection.