BD Correspondent: Police take BNP leaders and activists, who were arrested in connection with a case filed over clash between cops and BNP activists, to a metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka on Thursday.

Police lodged three cases naming 488 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and unspecified number of unnamed others of the party in connection with Wednesday’s clashes between police and BNP that left scores, including cops, injured.
The cases were lodged with Paltan Police Station in the capital on Wednesday late night on charge of attacking and injuring the cops, hindering police from discharging their duties, vandalising and setting fire to police vehicles, obstructing the people’s free movement and committing sabotages, said sub-inspector Faruque Hossain of Paltan Police Station.
He, however, declined to disclose the identity or the number of the accused in the cases.
Sources in the police station said that the police named 192 BNP leaders and activists in one case while 159 and 137 BNP men were accused in two other cases and that each of the cases mentioned that many unidentified BNP leaders and activists were involved in the attacks.
A source in the police station said that at least six BNP central leaders including standing committee member Mirza Abbas were named in the cases.
The cases alleged that the crimes were committed by the accused with direct direction and patronisation of six leaders and with indirect patronisation of other BNP senior leaders, the sources said.
Of the accused the police arrested 65 named ones whom police arrested at the venue of clash on Wednesday and produced before judge Sharafuzzaman Ansari of Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court Thursday afternoon seeking seven-day remand in police custody for interrogation, official sources in the court said.
In his application seeking remand for the accused, Kazi Ashraful Huq of Paltan Police Station, who is also investigation officer of one of the cases, said that all the accused, active members of BNP, with direct and indirect patronisation of senior leaders, had been committing sabotages at places in Dhaka for long with common intention to foil the upcoming national polls and create a chaotic environment in the country.
He sought the remand for interrogation for proper investigation into the case and to know names and addresses of the absconding accused and the unidentified ones and to arrest them.
The court allowed a five-day remand for 37 of the accused and directed the police to interrogate 28 others at jail gate, said the court’s general recording officer (Paltan) sub-inspector Jalal Uddin.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia in a press briefing at the metropolitan police headquarters around Thursday noon said that they arrested about 60 of the accused and identified many others involved in the attack on police and setting fire to two police vehicles.
He said that all the attackers were leaders and activists of BNP and its front organisations.
Twenty-three cops, including five officers, were injured in the attack and were now undergoing treatment, he said.
‘It is not merely attacking or beating the police. We think, there was a plan to commit a “big incident”,’ he said, adding that activities to identify the other suspects are going on.
The police commissioner said that the detective branch and Matijheel Crime Division were assigned to investigate the incidents neutrally.
He claimed that the attack was committed to create an issue.
On Wednesday about 12:45pm, a pitched battle occurred between police and Bangladesh Nationalist Party activists in front of BNP Naya Paltan central office in the capital leaving scores injured and two police vehicles burnt while BNP’s nomination paper sale was going on for the third day.
The clash occurred after BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas, as an aspirant candidate for Dhaka-8 constituency, came in front of the party office with a huge procession of his supporters.
The road near the office was blocked by the party stalwarts who locked in a heated exchange after a police vehicle tried to make way through the crowds hurting some BNP activists, witnesses said.
Two police vehicles near the BNP central office were set on fire while glasses of several cars were smashed before the chase and counter-chase let up towards 1:30am, they said.
Counter Terrorism Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Wednesday evening, on its facebook page, published a photo in which a youth was seen setting fire to a police vehicle with a matchbox.
The facebook page said he was ‘wanted by DMP’ and the photo went viral on social media by some campaigners identifying the youth to be an activist of ruling AL’s student organisation, Chhatra League.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Motijheel zone assistant commissioner Mishu Biswas on Thursday evening told New Age that they, reviewing the video footage and photographs collected from different media, identified the youth who set fire to a police vehicle on Wednesday as Paltan unit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal convening committee member Shahjalal Khandaker.
Besides, he said, they also identified two other youths who had been vandalising the car as Sohag Bhuiyan and Mohsin, both JCD activists.
The metropolitan police’s detective branch deputy commissioner (east division) Khandaker Nurunnabi told New Age that they arrested BNP executive committee member advocate Nipun Roy Chowdhury, daughter-in-law of BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Roy and daughter of former BNP state minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury, from Nightingale intersection at Kakrail in the capital Thursday evening in one of the cases.
Singer Baby Nazneen was also briefly detained, he said.