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Fakhrul, 44 others charged with hartal violence

Fakhrul, 44 others charged with hartal violence
The detectives on Thursday charged 45 leaders and activists of BNP-led 18-party alliance including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir with torching a bus late last month.

The vehicle was set on fire next to the Prime Minister's Office on April 29 evening hours after the end of first day's hartal of two back-to-back daylong shutdowns enforced by the opposition alliance.

The Detective Branch of police also requested arrest orders for 38 of the defendants including Mirza Fakhrul, BNP standing committee members MK Anwar, Mirza Abbas, Dr Khandoker Mosharraf Hossain and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Liberal Democratic Party President Col (retd) Oli Ahmed, Jamaat-e-Islami acting ameer Mokbul Hossain, BJP President Andalib Rahman Partha.

DB Inspector Nurul Amin, who is investigating the arson attack, sought the arrest warrants as he did not receive their bail orders by the High Court.

He submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka around 10:45am.

The other five accused including BNP Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi have earlier been arrested while BNP lawmaker Mahbub Uddin Khokon has secured bail in the case.

Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah, Sadek Hossain Khoka, Amanullah Aman, Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, Fazlul Haque Milon, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anne, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal President Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, and Swechchhasebak Dal President Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel have also been named in the charge sheet.

BACKGROUND

Shahbagh police filed a case against a number of 18-party alliance leaders and workers including Fakhrul, Rizvi, Mirza Abbar and Oli Ahmed hours after a vehicle was torched near the Prime Minister's Office on April 29.

Another case was also filed against the top 18-party leaders for exploding 'bombs' in the Bangladesh Secretariat on the day.

Following the cases, the accused top leader of the BNP went into hiding and they turned up in the High Court on May 7 to seek bail.

On the day, the HC delivered dissenting orders on the bail petitions filed by 30 accused leaders in the cases for blasts and arson over hartal violence.

Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, the senior judge of the bench, granted anticipatory bail to the accused till submission of police reports in the cases.

He also issued seven separate rules upon the government to explain in four weeks why the petitioners should not be granted regular bail.

Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, the other judge, however, directed the accused politicians to surrender before the magistrate's court concerned within seven days and ordered law enforcers not to harass or arrest them during that period.

After the court passed the orders on Monday, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, one of the defence counsels, told The Daily Star that the accused leaders would surrender before the lower court within a week as per the junior judge's order, although the senior judge granted them bail.

Additional Attorney General MK Rahman said the two judges would now send the bail petitions along with their orders to the chief justice.

Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain will then forward the petitions to a third HC bench for disposal, Rahman said.

Law enforcers cannot arrest the accused petitioners at least for seven days in the two cases following the HC orders, he added.

Earlier on May 3, BNP lawmaker Mahbub Uddin Khokon, an accused in the case, got anticipatory bail till May 9 from a third bench of the HC. And on Wednesday, he got bail till May 20 following his surrender before a trial court.

News24Hour.biz