Khaleda and Gen Zia’s son Coco buried at Banani graveyard

Arafat Rahman Coco, whose parents have ruled Bangladesh for years, has been buried at the Banani graveyard after the Namaz-e-Janaza.

The youngest son of BNP chief Khaleda Zia and former military strongman Ziaur Rahman was buried around 6:45pm Tuesday.

Thousands of BNP supporters took part in the Janaza at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque. Authorities stopped traffic leading to the mosque's North and South gates.

The body was brought to the mosque around 4pm from the BNP chief’s Gulshan office.

The Janaza ended around 5:15pm. The remains were kept there for a while to let the people have one last glimpse before the coffin was taken to Banani for burial.

Earlier, authorities had turned down the family's plea for the burial at the military graveyard in Banani.

A Malaysian Airlines flight carrying Coco's remains from Kuala Lumpur landed in Dhaka around 11:30pm.

The casket was then taken to the BNP chief's office, where a tearful Khaleda bade bye to her youngest child.

The 45-year old Coco, who had been living in Malaysia for the past seven years with his wife and two daughters, died of heart failure last Saturday.

In 2011, he had moved there from Bangkok where he had gone in July 2008 for treatment after the then military-backed caretaker government paroled him.

He was arrested along with his mother on Sept 3, 2007 during the state of emergency.

A court also sentenced Coco to six years in prison and fined him Tk 190 million in June 2011 for smuggling money out to Singapore between 2004 and 2006 when Khaleda was the prime minister.