113 activists of BNP, Jamaat arrested

Police yesterday arrested 113 leaders and activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir in Cumilla and Jashore to “prevent deterioration of law and order” over the August 21 grenade attack case verdict.

They have been sent to jail through court.

Cumilla Special Branch Inspector Mahbub Morshed said they had arrested 102 men, including BNP's Sadar South Upazila unit General Secretary Mahbub Chowdhury, during their drives in 17 upazilas “to prevent law and order deterioration”.

In Jashore, police arrested 11 BNP and Jamaat leaders, including Afzal Hossain Babu, 35, a municipal commissioner from Keshabpur Upazila, yesterday morning.

Keshabpur Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Shahin said they raided a mango orchard near Narayanpur Palpara road early morning to foil a clandestine meeting of BNP-Jamaat activists plotting subversive activities.

“About 25 others fled the scene after exploding an improvised bomb,” the OC said. “Ten people were arrested from there.”

A case was filed against the men with Keshabpur police.

BNP's Jashore district unit General Secretary Syed Saberul Haque Sabu dubbed the police narrative “imaginary” and said the case was “fictitious”.

A special tribunal sentenced former BNP state minister Lutfozzaman Babar and 18 others to death and handed down life imprisonment to Tarique Rahman and 18 others in two cases filed over the 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka.