Fakhrul, Rizvi may be be sued

Police is expected to file two cases against the leaders of the 18-Party Alliance, who were arrested following blasts at a rally organised by the BNP near its Naya Paltan BNP headquarters on Monday.

Police arrest BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from party’s central office in Dhaka on Monday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner (Media) Gazi Rabiul Islam confirmed to bdnews24.com on Tuesday about the preparations for the legal action.

“One will be under the Speedy Trials Act… The other will be over attacks on the police, obstruction to government duty and the blasts," he added.

Although not specifying the names of those who might be sued, the official said that the detained leaders of the opposition alliance would be named along with up to 50 anonymous others in the cases.

BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had called Tuesday’s shutdown after the blasts during the Monday rally. Party activists had pelted stones at the police after the blasts.

Within hours of the blasts, Mirza Fakhrul, Sadek Hossain Khoka, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Zainul Abdin Farroque and over a hundred other activists were nabbed following a raid at the the BNP headquarter.

Islam said 14 Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists were among the 155 arrested on Monday.

When asked if anyone would be spared from the cases, he said , “Selections are on… Can’t say anything before the cases.”

The nabbed activists would be produced before a court after the lawsuits were filed, he said.