Nasiruddin and Polash were accused in one of the political violence cases filed with the Ramna police station last year. They were arrested on October 29 last year while running away after allegedly blasting crude bombs at Shantinagar in the capital. In December, both of them secured bail from court.
The case statement includes the name of 40 people, including BNP’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and senior leaders Mirza Abbas, Moudud Ahmed, Abdullah Al Noman, Barkatullah Bulu, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, and others.
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that Nasiruddin made the crude bomb and Polash exploded it in exchange for money. They now sell marijuana and phensidyl.
Polash told the Dhaka Tribune: “Getting arrested is common for us, especially as we sell drugs. In most cases, we manage the law enforcers by giving them a share of the drugs or our incomes.”
Hundreds of crude bombs were blasted, many people were killed, scores of vehicles were set on fire and properties vandalised during the year-long street protests staged by the opposition parties last year.
In October and November alone, at least 136 arson attack cases were filed with various police stations in the capital in which more than 2,000 people were accused. However, so far, only about 25 people have been arrested.
Police records show that from October 25 to December 3 last year, at least 344 vehicles were torched and 388 were vandalised in the capital. Of these, 81 belonged to police.
As of yesterday, charge sheets were given in only 56 of these cases and final reports in only 14. The remaining 66 cases are all under investigation.
In 2012, a total of 128 cases were filed in connection with street violence. But police have failed to provide detailed information about these cases either. Nearly 2,800 named and more than 24,000 unnamed people were made accused in those cases. Police could not give any information about their whereabouts either.
Sources said most of the arson attack cases were filed under the speedy trial act. Someone arrested in connection with these cases generally cannot get bail from a magistrate court. But there are other ways to get bail.
Anwarul Kabir Babul, public prosecutor of the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka, said: “For cases filed under the speedy trial act, charge sheets have to be placed within six days of filing of a case. And over the next 46 days, the prosecution will have to produce the witnesses. Charge sheets were given in many [of these arson attack] cases but the investigators could not produce witnesses.”
Moreover, when a magistrate denies bail, the accused can appeal to a higher court and seek bail citing any kind of personal reason.
On December 30 last year, when political unrest in the country was at its peak, a Dhaka Tribune journalist helped police arrest a young man for blasting three crude bombs on Panthapath.
The journalist, who witnessed Toriqul hurling the bombs, followed him to the Kathalbagan area, found out that he worked in a mobile phone repairing shop and informed the Kalabagan police station.
The law enforcers were really prompt in picking up the young man from the shop. A few days later, when the journalist tried to learn about the progress in the matter, he was told from the police station that Toriqul had been sent to jail by a Dhaka court.
On several occasions in the subsequent months, he was told again and again that the Detective Branch of Police was looking into the matter. But since the DB had been dealing with many other similar cases, solving the one that Toriqul was shown arrested in, was taking time.
On Thursday, the Dhaka Tribune contacted the Kalabagan police station again and learned that Sub-Inspector Jalaluddin Ahmed, who was investigating the case, had been transferred to the Chawkbazar police station in the capital.
When contacted, SI Jalaluddin told the Dhaka Tribune that he was sure that the charge sheet in the case was not yet given.
Md Iqbal, officer-in-charge of the Kalabagan police station, said since it was a months-old case, he would have to check the documents to tell more about the current status of the case. He could neither tell the name of the current investigation officer nor the whereabouts of Toriqul without checking documents.
According to DMP sources, at least one top or mid-level leader of the BNP-Jamaat-led 20 party alliance was implicated in around 30 of those 56 charge sheets. There are allegations that these 56 cases have made progress because they could be used to harass the opposition leaders.
In many cases, instead of trying to find out the actual culprits behind the arson attacks, vandalism and bombing, police have made opposition leaders the prime accused without any proper investigation.
On April 29 last year, a group of nearly 40 people torched some 10 buses in the capital’s Shantinagar area. At that time, Abu Bakar Siddique, the driver of one of those buses, said he had stopped the bus beside the road because a tyre had punctured and a group of miscreants had come and torched it. He also said he had not seen the face of any of the attackers. Police later made some BNP leaders, including Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, the main accused in a case filed in connection with the incident.
On November 28, 2013, police caught 18-year-old Al Amin red-handed in Uttara in the act of exploding crude bombs. Al Amin later said a local BNP leader named Billal had given him Tk200 for doing the job. He is now serving a one-year jail term but police have not yet managed to get hold of Billal.
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, OC of the Uttara west police station, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Billal is still to be caught. I cannot tell you anything more because I have come here recently.”
Last year, several other BNP leaders were arrested in different parts of the capital in connection with various street violence cases, but the law enforcers are still completely clueless about the whereabouts of these people.
The Dhaka Tribune has also learned that investigators have a list of 450 bomb-makers whose products had been blasted during the year-long political violence last year. However, not a single one from that list has so far been arrested.
When asked why they had been giving chargesheets against the opposition leaders instead of finding the actual criminals, police have always said the leaders were the real masterminds behind the street violence.
Records show that Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi are the main accused in three charge sheets submitted with the Ramna division of police.
Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy were shown as accused in two charge sheets under the Lalbagh division.
At least 12 charge sheets under the Wari division show Anee, Mirza Fakhrul, Alal and Aman as main accused.
Data provided by the Crime Cell of DMP shows that a total of 20 cases have been filed with the Motijheel divison. Charge sheets were given in only four of them, final investigation report in just one and the remaining 15 cases were under investigation.
However, when contacted, Ashrafuzzaman, deputy commission of the Motijheel division, failed to give specific information about the number of people arrested and the current statuses of any of the cases.
“We are working on them [the cases]. Completing investigation will take time,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
A total of 17 street violence related cases are currently under the investigation of the Detective Branch (DB) of DMP. At least 14 of those investigations are led by Monirul Islam, a joint commissioner of DB.
He told the Dhaka Tribune: “We are at the last stage of investigation. We will solve all of the cases very soon.”
DMP Assistant Deputy Commissioner (Media) Saidur Rahman also said something very similar. “Everything takes time. Many factors have to be considered while investigating a case. We are continuously working on them.”
