Salman, Anisul arrested while attempting to flee

They have been arrested in Dhaka's Sadarghat, says DMP chief

Salman F Rahman, former private investment and industry advisor to the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and her former law minister, Anisul Huq have been arrested while allegedly attempting to escape the country.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief Mainul Hasan said the two high-profile figures were apprehended on Tuesday while trying to flee via waterways from Dhaka's Sadarghat.

They were arrested after a case filed with New Market Police Station named them as 'instigators' in connection with the Jul 16 quota reform clashes outside Dhaka College, a police officer told bdnews24.com.

As the student and public movement morphed into an anti-government protest in early August, widespread violence erupted across the country.

On Aug 5, amid a march to Dhaka by the protesters, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina fled to India after stepping down as prime minister.

Subsequently, most government ministers and senior Awami League leaders went into hiding, with reports suggesting some had left the country earlier.

However, Salman reportedly left the country on the same flight as Hasina on Aug 5, according to earlier reports by Indian media.

Now, Dhaka police claim to have arrested him in the Sadarghat area.

Salman, vice chairman of Beximco Group, one of Bangladesh's leading industrial conglomerates, became the private sector development affairs advisor to Hasina in 2009.

In 2019, he was appointed as the prime minister's advisor on private industry and investment with the rank of a minister.

He was elected MP from the Dhaka-1 constituency in the last two elections.

A member of the Awami League's advisory council, Salman was known to be a close confidant of Hasina and a highly influential figure in the government.

In the mid-1990s, he served as the president of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, or FBCCI, the top organisation of businessmen, and was a prominent figure in the country's business community.

Salman's Beximco Group has business interests in various sectors, including pharmaceuticals, textiles, import-export, power and energy, banking and financial institutions, hotels, engineering, and media.

There has also been considerable discussion about his influence in the capital market.

Lawyer Anisul was the lead prosecutor in the state cases for the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and four leaders of the wartime national government—acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, prime minister Tajuddin Ahmed and cabinet ministers M Mansur Ali and AHM Qamruzzaman.

During the Awami League's tenure, he handled several significant state cases, including the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles, or BDR, mutiny case.

His father, the late Sirajul Islam, was a renowned lawyer and politician, and a member of the committee that drafted the constitution of independent Bangladesh.

Anisul first became an MP from the Brahmanbaria-4 constituency on an Awami League ticket in the Jan 5, 2014 elections.

That same year, he was appointed as Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs in the Awami League government.

Hasina retained him in the same position in her two subsequent governments.