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Published : 12 Dec 2013, 11:04 PM
The elite crime-fighting force picked the Jatiya Party chief up from his President Park residence in Dhaka’s Baridhara around 11:30pm, said Kazi Firoz Rashid, a Presidium member.
However, RAB-1 Commander Kismat Hayat claimed that they were ‘escorting’ him to the Combined Military Hospital because he had been taken ill.
RAB media wing Director Habibur Rahman said the former President was at home when he fell sick.
“It was then that our personnel deployed at his residence took him to CMH.”
Wracked with infighting and factional clashes, Ershad’s party has been one of the key allies of the ruling Grand Alliance led by the Awami League.
Ershad had more recently indicated that he might not take part in the elections scheduled for Jan 5 next year.
Jatiya Party aspirants had submitted nomination papers by Dec 2 to contest the Jan 5 elections after the Election Commission had announced the schedule.
Three nominations were filed on Ershad's behalf for Dhaka-17, Lalmonirhat-1, and Rangpur-3 constituencies.
But, a day later, Ershad announced boycotting the parliamentary polls and directed his candidates to withdraw their nominations.
He, however, allowed seven of his party leaders to get on the cabinet of a 'multi-party' interim government, designed to supervise the polls.
On Dec 4, the former strongman ordered his party members to resign from the cabinet.
All Jatiya Party candidates have reportedly applied to withdraw their nominations for which Friday is the last day.
Ershad's 'detention' comes a day after the Awami League set aside 60 constituencies for his party in the next elections.
A Jatiya Party leader, who was unwilling to be identified, had told bdnews24.com that Ershad was being taken to RAB-1 office at Uttara after detention.
When approached, RAB's media wing Director Habibur Rahman told bdnews24.com: "Mr Ershad had informed several RAB personnel deployed there that he was feeling unwell. Our men then took him to the CMH."
Earlier on Thursday night, a Jatiya Party delegation had gone to the Ganabhaban, the Prime Minister's official residence.
Assistant Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Asif Kabir said Ruhul Amin Howlader, Anisul Islam Mahmud, Ziauddin Bablu and Salma Islam had been to the Ganabhaban.
Another official at the Prime Minister's residence confirmed that Ershad's wife Roushan Ershad had also been there.
Four of the five Jatiya Party leaders at Ganabhaban, except Bablu who is a prime ministerial advisor, are ministers in the interim cabinet.
Ershad’s party was allotted 60 seats in the districts including Rangpur, Patuakhali, Noakhali, Chittagong, Khulna, Satkhira, Bogra and Habiganj.
On Wednesday, the Election Commission rejected Ershad’s application for withdrawing his candidature from the Dhaka-17 constituency citing that the letter was dated Dec 5.
However, his nomination withdrawal applications for Rangpur and Lalmonirhat constituencies were accepted. On Thursday, the Commission accepted his withdrawal from Dhaka-17 seat.
The Awami League will contest in 229 seats. Four seats each have been allotted for its allies, JSD and Workers Party, two for Tariqat Federation, and one for the Jatiya Party faction led by Anwar Hossain Manju.
