Nine suspects land in jail over arson and vandalism at The Daily Star office

Police request a Dhaka court to send the suspects to jail

A Dhaka court has sent nine people to jail in connection with attacks, vandalism and arson at the office of The Daily Star.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam passed the order on Tuesday, said Sub Inspector (SI) Selim Reza of prosecution.

The attack on the English daily followed an attack on the Bengali daily Prothom Alo in the early hours of Dec 19, after news of the death of Inqilab Moncho convenor in Singapore reached Bangladesh.

Those sent to jail are Julfikar Ali Sourav from Dhaka, Md Mainul Islam from Rajshahi, Almas Ali from Mymensingh, Jubayer Hossain from Noakhali, Ainul Haque Qasimi from Sylhet, Abdul Rahman Palash from Noakhali, Jannatul Naim from Rangpur, Abdur Rahman from Shariatpur, and Faisal Ahmed from Chandpur.

The Daily Star filed a case on Monday evening, accusing 350 to 400 unidentified people of the attack on its office. The case estimated the loss to be Tk 400 million.

Inspector Ashik Iqbal, the investigation officer of the case, requested the court to send the suspects to jail.

The Prothom Alo also filed a case over the attack on its office, accusing 400 to 500 unnamed people. The case was filed at the Tejgaon Police Station. A Dhaka court sent 15 people to jail on Monday over the attack on Prothom Alo.