Two Awami League-affiliated activists among arrestees in Rajbari violence, says CAO

An aide citing police says each and every person involved will be brought to justice

Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, deputy press secretary to the chief advisor, says the involvement of Awami League activists has been uncovered in the recent violence in Rajbari.

Four different incidents of violence occurred on Friday in Rajbari, he said. These are the vandalism of police and local administration vehicles, the vandalism of the shrine, the exhuming of the body of Nurul Haque aka “Nural Pagla”, and the burning of Nurul’s body.

“Seven people have been arrested so far after analysing video footage of the incident. The person who exhumed the body from the grave is named Kazi Apu. He has been arrested as well. At least two of the seven arrested are involved in local Awami League politics.

“One of them is Hiru Mridha, general secretary of the Goalanda Thana Swechhashebok League, and Masud Mridha, president of the Ujanchar Union Chhatra League in Goalanda Thana.”

Video of the entire incident is being analysed, Majumder said.

“Police say that each and every person found to be involved in the incident during the investigation will be brought to justice,” he added.

Nurul, a self-proclaimed spiritual leader who claimed to be the “Imam Mahdi”, died recently and was buried in a grave slightly above the ground. It is alleged that the grave was modelled after the Kaaba.

This led to tensions between Nurul’s devotees and a faction of local Muslims who identified themselves as “Tawhidi Janata”. The local administration was trying to resolve the issue by bringing both sides together, but to no avail.

After Jummah prayers on Friday, a protest rally was held under the banner of “Tawhidi Janata”. The protest led to an attack on Nurul’s Darbar Sharif. The attackers clashed with Nurul’s followers. One person was killed and fifty other people were reportedly injured.

The attackers then went to Nurul’s grave, exhumed his body, took it away, and set it on fire. Police were attacked and had their vehicles vandalised as they attempted to control the situation.

Senior government officials informed the interim cabinet about the incident during a meeting on law and order at the Chief Advisor’s Office on Sunday, Deputy Press Secretary Majumder said.

“They said that before this incident, the local ‘Iman and Aqidah Protection Committee’ had met twice with the district administration and several times with the Upazila administration. After the meeting, they took permission for a peaceful protest. But later they grew disorderly and did not keep their word. Whether any of them has any involvement in this matter is also being investigated.”