Former Awami League MP Tahzeeb Siddique arrested in Dhaka

He faces charges of murder, vandalism, and arson

Former Jhenaidah-2 MP Tahzeeb Alam Siddique has been arrested in Dhaka.

The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, detained him from Savar's Nabinnagar on Thursday night, said the agency’s spokesperson ANM Imran Khan.

"Tahzeeb Alam Siddique has been arrested in connection with the cases filed at Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station for charges of murder, vandalism, and arson," he said.

Tahzeeb, a two-time MP, is the son of Nur E Alam Siddique, who led the Chhatra League before and after the Liberation War.

Nur was one of the four notable student leaders close to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the 1970s, known as the ‘four khalifas’.

He served as the central president of the Chhatra League from 1970 to 1972 and later became an independent MP.

Tahzeeb served as an MP in 2014 and 2018 but lost in the 12th general election on Jan 7.

After Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India on Aug 5, an interim government was formed three days later.

Since then top Awami League leaders, including ministers and state ministers, as well as influential MPs, are being arrested one by one.

Three cases have been filed against Tahzeeb, according to a statement from RAB Headquarters.

The former MP is the third accused in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act on Aug 19, the second accused in a similar case filed on Aug 24, and the fifth accused in a murder case filed on Aug 27, the statement said.

The murder case of Abdus Salam, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist, was filed on Aug 27, 11 years after the incident, by the victim’s father-in-law and former official of the Agricultural Bank, Abu Bakar Siddique.

The case names former MP and Jhenaidah district Awami League president Shafiqul Islam, Tahzeeb, and 270 others from the Awami League as accused.