Fakhrul, Abbas arrested over Nayapaltan clash

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas have been shown arrested in a case over the clash between police and BNP men at Nayapaltan in capital Dhaka.

Detective Branch chief Harun-or-Rashid said this to the reporters in front of the DB office at Minto Road around 2:15 pm on Friday.

He said they were brought to the office of DB for questioning, and after interrogation, they were shown arrested in a case filed over the clash in Nayapaltan.

The charge against them is that they incited, planned and instructed barbaric attacks on police and the throwing cocktails, he added.

Earlier, BNP claimed that the detective branch of police picked up Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas from their respective homes in capital Dhaka early Friday.

The party's media cell member Shayrul Kabir Khan said a team of DB police picked up Mirza Fakhrul from his Uttara residence around 3 am and another team of detectives picked up Mirza Abbas from his Shahjahanpur house at about 3:20 am.

Their detention came hours after BNP had changed its position on the December 10 mass rally at Nayapalyan and sought permission to hold the same at the Kamalapur Stadium in the capital. 

A delegation of BNP sat in a meeting with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner at its headquarters around 7:10 pm on Thursday that lasted around two hours. 

After meeting around 9:30 pm, BNP Vice Chairman Barkatullah Bulu told the reporters that they want to hold the rally at the Kamalapur Stadium but DMP proposed the Government Bangla College ground, Mirpur for the program.

TT/SU