Savar, Feb 5 (bdnews24.com) – A case has been filed in Savar against 167 leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and its associate organisations on charges of attack on policemen.
Sub-inspector Abul Hossain of Savar Model Police Station filed the case on Friday night against 17 named and 150 unnamed Awami League people.
Three of the arrested accused were produced before court on Saturday seeking a five-day remand for them.
Five of the top named accused are former vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) Manjurul Alam Razib, Dhaka district unite former BCL president Fakhrul Alam Samar, Savar Upazila Awami League joint secretaries Jahangir Alam and Abdur Razzak and Savar Upazila BCL president Sayem Molla.
The three arrestees are Savar Upazila Awami League joint secretary Abdur Razzak and its activists Mohammad Zahid and Mohammad Shahadat.
Officer-in-charge of the police station Mahbubur Rahman told bdnews24.com that the rival group of Ataur Rahman, general secretary of Hawkers Cooperative Association and also the Juba League president of the Upazila's ward-3, beat him up severely and vandalised his office on Thursday night.
Ataur filed a case against Upazila Hawkers League general secretary Quader Molla with the Savar police station in this connection on Friday morning. Quader was arrested at noon the same day.
OC Rahman alleged that Quader's supporters took position in front of the police station around 3pm to snatch their leader.
"As we obstructed them, they hurled brickbats on us, injuring sub-inspector Hafizur Rahman, constables Pannu Sikder and Abdus Salam."
He also said the windowpanes and glasses of the doors of the police station were broken as they hurled brickbats, causing a loss Tk 20,000.
Later, police dispersed them and held three of them.
Sub-inspector Aminul Islam, the investigation officer of the case filed by the police, said, "We're trying to arrest the remaining accused. Additional policemen have been deployed in the police station area to avert further trouble," he added.
Witnesses said over 200 leaders and activists led by Upazila Awami League president Hasina Doula and Dhaka district unit Awami League vice-president Ashrafuddin Khan Imu took position in front of the main entrance of Savar Police Station on Saturday afternoon in protest against Quader's arrest.
An altercation took place between the police and the protesters when the law-enforcers tried to quell them.
By the time, two teams of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-4) appeared at the scene.
The police and the RAB personnel then swung into action charging baton on the demonstrators, leaving some Awami League workers and passers-by injured.
Hasina Doula told bdnews24.com that Quader was arrested in a 'false' case. "Police charged baton on us when we were protesting peacefully."
About the case filed against the 167 Awami League men, he said it was done to harass them. "We will 'centrally' face this false case," he added.
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