BNP leader Gayeshwar sent to jail, Tariqul’s son remanded over attack on police

A Dhaka court has ordered BNP leader Gayeshwar Chandra Roy into jail in one of the three cases over Tuesday’s attack on the police near the High Court, which coincided with the hearing of party chief Khaleda Zia's graft case in a special court.

In the same case, the court also granted police three days to grill in custody BNP Standing Committee Member Tariqul Islam’s son Aninda Islam Amit, an assistant organising secretary of the party, on Wednesday.     

Police detained 69 people from the scene after the BNP activists attacked them and snatched away two detainees near the High Court on Tuesday during Khaleda’s appearance in a special court in Bakhshibazar.

The attackers stormed a police prison van, beat up several law enforcers, broke police guns and took away some protective gears.       

Police later in the night detained BNP Standing Committee member Gayeshwar on his way from Khaleda’s office in Gulshan and Amit from his Shantinagar home.   

The law enforcers started three cases over the attack – two at Shahbagh Police Station and the other at Ramna – on charges of obstruction to police duty, attempt to murder, theft and unauthorised rally.

Police produced Gayeshwar and Amit in Metropolitan Magistrate Mahmudul Hasan’s court on Wednesday, showing them arrested in the two cases started with Shahbagh Police.

The judge rejected the BNP leaders’ bail pleas but allowed police to remand Amit.

Sanaullah Mia, the lawyer for Gayeshwar, said police did not seek to remand the senior BNP leader.

At the hearing of Gayeshwar’s bail petition, Sanaullah alleged police named the BNP leader in the case “out of vengeance”.

“He never ordered someone to attack (police),” the lawyer said.

The court also granted police two days to grill each of 36 of the BNP activists arrested at the scene in the case. 

Besides Gayeshwar and Amit, 52 people are accused in the two cases at Shahbagh Police Station respectively.