A Dhaka court yesterday placed BNP Joint Secretary-General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on fresh three-day remand in a case charging him with arson attack in the capital’s Jatrabari area on January 23.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain passed the order after Md Bashir Ahmed, sub-inspector at the Detective Branch of police and the investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court seeking a 10-day remand.
Rizvi was taken to the court after completion of his five-day remand in another case filed with Jatrabari police station for torching a bus of Tarab Poribahan in front of Kajla Women’s Madrasa on January 23.
Defence lawyer Md Sanaullah Miah filed a petition seeking Rizvi’s bail, claiming he was implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him politically.
After hearing both the defence and the prosecution, the court rejected the bail petition and granted three-day remand for Rizvi in the case.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was also made accused as an abettor of the incident, while Rizvi was listed as instigator.
According to the case, a person was killed and at least 31 people suffered burns as two petrol bombs, thrown by suspected pro-blockade activists, exploded inside a Glory Paribahan bus near Matuail union parishad office on Dhaka-Demra highway on January 23.
Later, police filed the case against 68 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists including several top leaders and a number of unnamed people for the arson attack.
Eighteen BNP and Jamaat leaders were implicated for planning the attack while 50 others were accused of executing the assault on the bus.
BNP leaders Barrister Rafiqul Islam Miah, MK Anwar, Selima Rahman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Aman Ullah Aman, and Barkat Ullah Bulu were accused of planning.
Former BNP lawmaker from Jatrabari Salauddin Ahmed and BNP leader Nabiullah Nabi were accused of carrying out the attack.
Another Dhaka court sent BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser Mosaddak Ali Falu to jail yesterday, rejecting his bail petition in a case filed with Mirpur Model police station for an arson attack on January 28.
Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mahbubur Rahman passed the order when police produced Falu before the court after completion of five-day remand back in the case.
Defence counsel Md Sanaullah Miah had filed a petition seeking bail for his client, but the court rejected it after hearing yesterday.
Falu was placed on the five-day remand by another metropolitan magistrate, Tarek Moinul Islam Bhuiyan, when the case’s investigation officer Sub-Inspector Md Mafizur Rahman produced him before the court on Wednesday, seeking 10-day remand.
According to the case, some miscreants set a bus on fire on January 28 in the capital’s Mirpur 2 area during the ongoing blockade imposed by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
On January 29, Assistant Sub-Inspector Khandakar Razib Ahmed filed a case in this regard with Mirpur Model police station against 43 identified and 20-15 unidentified people.
On February 1, plainclothes police picked up Falu from in front of BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office, while law enforcers arrested Rizvi at a house in Baridhara on January 31.
