The law enforcers are giving importance to the evidence after the filing of more than 100 cases over recent violence by the Qawmi madrasa-based organisation in parts of Bangladesh.
Investigators say that they are analysing the videos of the scenes of violence to identify those responsible and speeches delivered by Hifazat leaders in Waz-Mahfil or religious gatherings.
Some of the videos, however, have been removed from social media.
“Removing the contents won’t be helpful. We are downloading and archiving them. These are becoming hard evidence after forensic tests,” said Muhammad Shariful Islam, a deputy commissioner at Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Cyber and Special Crime Division.
The Police Bureau of Investigation, or PBI, has been tasked with investigating 16 cases over Hifazat violence in Brahmanbaria, Manikganj, Kishoreganj, Chattogram’s Hathazari and Cox’s Bazar.
Banaj Kumar Majumder, a deputy inspector general heading the PBI, said the investigators began collecting evidence, including video and audio clips.
Besides downloading existing videos, they are using different ways to collect the footage that have been removed from internet, he said.
Deadly clashes erupted between Hifazat activists and the law enforcers following the mayhem by the radical Islamists in protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit over his government’s policy towards minority Muslims.
The law-enforcing agencies arrested a number of top leaders of the organisation in the past few days on various charges including the violence over Modi’s visit.
The Islamist leaders are accused of spreading hate through their sermons in religious gatherings. Their supporters also share the videos of the hate speech on social media.
Additional DIG Mahbubur Rahman, who is heading the police’s Criminal Investigation Department, said on Tuesday that arrests will be made following analysis of the videos by their forensic division.
In his words, the CID is using its “full force” to investigate 23 cases over Hifazat violence.
PBI head Banaj said they were prioritising the angle that a person can be involved in different incidents of violence at a time through communication.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that no innocent person gets punished."