Police have arrested Hefazat-e-Islam Assistant Secretary General Jalal Uddin in a case filed over violence unleashed by the radical Islamist group in Dhaka eight years ago.
Jalal, also a joint secretary general of Islamist party Khelafat Majlish, was detained by the Detective Branch (DB) from his home at Dhaka’s Mohammadpur on Saturday.
Apart from the case over Hefazat’s 2013 mayhem at the capital’s Motijheel, Jalal has also been named in several other cases filed over the violence during the Indian prime minister’s recent visit, said Additional Commissioner AKM Hafeez Akter of the Dhaka metro police’s DB.
Earlier, a total of 194 people, including leaders and supporters of Hefazat and BNP, were accused in the Motijheel mayhem case.
According to the case docket, on May 5, 2013, activists of Hefazat, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami had allegedly taken part in the vandalization of numerous properties in Motijheel, Fakirapool and Arambagh areas.
Hefazat had claimed that 2,000 of its leaders and activists were killed in the clashes, but the government's official death toll stood at 13, including three policemen.
Following the rampage, more than 50 cases were filed at Paltan and Motijheel police stations on charges of murder and violence against hundreds of people, including Hefazat’s then secretary general Junaid Babunagari.
