The person involved in the train arson at Ishwardi railway station during the blockade on November 27 was working under the instruction of two BNP leaders, police claim.
Local BNP activist and listed criminal Md Suman, 32, was arrested two days after the incident, on Wednesday, when he went to a medicine shop in front of Mohammadpur Railway Hospital in Ishwardi.
Suman was injured when he, along with others, set fire to a compartment of the parked train using kerosene around 8:30pm. Fifteen seats in the sixth compartment of the train were burned in the arson attack.
In the incident, the Railway Police Station registered a case.
Multiple alert teams of the Pabna district police started operations in the Ishwardi police station area. Later, police tracked him using modern technology. Suman is facing several arms-related cases; Pabna Police Superintendent Akbar Ali Munshi confirmed the information.
According to the information given by Suman, the mystery of setting fire to the train came out as he agreed to confess.
Suman said he acted in exchange for money at the instructions of Md Mehedi Hasan, member secretary of Ishwardi Thana Swechchasebak Dal, and Zakir Hossain Jewel, convener of Municipal Unit Jubo Dal. The duo are brothers of Zakaria Pintu, a former NP leader who got the death penalty in a case filed over the attack on a train carrying then-opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in 1994.
After last week’s arson attack, the railway authorities have arranged additional lighting, CCTV cameras, and police members in the station area. At the same time, steps have been taken to install barbed wire around the entire junction area to secure it.
