Police arrested BNP Joint Secretary General Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel from the capital's Gulshan area yesterday evening.

Masudur Rahman, the deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that Sohel was held on “specific allegations”.

Sohel, also president of Dhaka north unit BNP, was picked up from near Gulshan-2 intersection around 7:30pm, said Shamsuddin Dider, a staff of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's press wing.

He was taken to the office of Detective Branch of police on Minto road, police said.

UNB adds: BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at an emergency press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan central office alleged that the government arrested Sohel as part of continuous arrest of BNP leaders and activists in different cases.

He alleged that around 70-80 cases were filed against Sohel over the last eight months. “We strongly condemn and protest his arrest.”

The BNP leader demanded that the government release Sohel immediately after withdrawing all the “false” cases filed against him.