A Dhaka court today rejected the bail petition of Mufti Sharifullah, an assistant publicity secretary of Hefajat-e-Islam's central committee, and sent him to jail in a case filed under the Special Powers Act with Jatrabari Police Station on May 6 of 2013.

Metropolitan Magistrate Begum Yeasmin Ara passed the order after Ayan Mahmud, an inspector of Jatrabari Police Station and also the investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court on completion of one-day remand.

In today's forwarding report, the IO said Mufti Sharifullah gave important information during investigation.

That is why he appealed to the court to confine Sharifullah in jail until the investigation is completed, the IO added.

The defence submitted a bail petition saying that their client was not involved with the incident being investigated, adding that their client was implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him.

Upon hearing both sides, the magistrate turned down the defence plea and sent the accused to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.

A team of detective branch of police (Wari Division) arrested Mufti Sharifullah from Jatrabari on April 13.

On May 5, 2013, thousands of members of Hefajat, a Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist organisation, clashed with law enforcers and ruling AL men, turning Motijheel and Paltan areas into battlefields.

They set fire to hundreds of shops, vehicles and police outposts and looted stores. Clashes also took place in different other districts in the following couple of days.

A total of 83 cases were filed in seven districts including in Dhaka, accusing 3,416 named and 84,796 unnamed people. Many of the accused were from Hefajat, Jamaat-e-Islam and the BNP.

Police have pressed charges in 18, and gave final reports in two other cases. Investigations of the 62 have been stalled.