Seven Jamaat-e-Islami members arrested over bus firebombing in Chandina

Police have arrested seven local Jamaat-e-Islami leaders over their alleged involvement in an arson attack on a bus on Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Chandina Upazila in Comilla.

Comilla Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 4 June 2015, 07:41 AM
Updated : 4 June 2015, 07:41 AM

Comilla Superintendent of Police (SP) Shah Md Abid Hossain said a joint raid by RAB, police, BGB in different areas of the Upazila on Wednesday led to the arrest.

Those arrested are, Jamaat-e-Islami Chandina Upazila Amir Abul Bashar, 60, Upazila Union Amir Mohib Ullah, 50, Upazila Jamaat members and activists Md Obaidullah, 48, Omar Faruk, 20, Abdur Razzak, 45, Rafiqul Islam, 35, and ‘Nayan’, 35.

On Wednesday night a Rangamati-bound bus was hit by a ’flammable substance’ near Chandina Jute Research Institute leaving five with severe burns and three injured.

Police suspect the object was a petrol bomb.

Following the incident Chandina police station ASI Prabir Kumar Roy filed a case on Wednesday morning.

SP Hossain said 15 people had been named in the case. Twenty more unidentified people were also accused.

Out of the seven arrested, six persons, barring ‘Nayan’, were named in the FIR, said the ASI.

District administration formed a five-strong probe panel headed by District Magistrate Golamur Rahman on Wednesday.

The police formed a separate three-member probe committee headed by Comilla Additional Superintendent of Police (South) Jahangir Hossain.

The BNP-Jamaat alliance’s blockade agitations earlier this year have been marked by violence including arson, vandalism and firebombing that left at least 130 people killed and many hundreds more injured.

A firebombing on a bus at Chauddagram in Comilla at the time had left eight killed and 25 injured.

Comilla Deputy Commissioner Hasanuzzaman Kallol said those responsible for the violence during the BNP blockade might be involved in the arson attack at Chandina.