Meanwhile, Hawa Bhaban was visited yesterday afternoon by a police team led by investigation officer (IO) of the case filed against arrested Senior Joint Secretary General of BNP Tarique Rahman in connection with extortion of Tk 1 crore.

Sources said intelligence officials grilling Tarique, who reportedly earned a large amount of money through unbridled corruption, wanted to know from him about foreign bank accounts that he holds himself or through proxy. Tarique gave some information on such accounts, the sources added.

The interrogators also questioned him about lands he owns himself or through proxy. Besides, the intelligence officials wanted to know from Tarique whether he has any investment in Malaysia.

The sources said investigators already started looking into the information divulged by Tarique, who had been sent to a four-day remand by a Dhaka court on Thursday in connection with the extortion case.

Owner of a construction firm, Amin Ahmed, who had been nominated as a BNP candidate from a Noakhali constituency for the cancelled January 22 election, filed the case against Tarique with Gulshan police station on Thursday.

Besides, Gulshan police also filed a general diary (GD) against Tarique the same day accusing that he, his party colleagues, and his business partners earned a huge amount of money through unbridled corruption in domestic and international tenders.

It also mentioned that he amassed a large amount of money taking commissions from those who earned illegal money by appointing people to different posts in the civil aviation and tourism ministry. Moreover, he siphoned crores of taka off the country which he had earned through manipulating tenders using his own, his family members' and his business partners' influences in purchasing CNG auto-rickshaws, setting up power plants, and manufacturing electric poles causing a huge loss to the government.

Tarique who is believed to have virtually ruled the country for the last five years from the alternative powerhouse Hawa Bhaban, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday from his mother's cantonment residence in the biggest ever manhunt by the joint forces.

Sources said joint forces men in plainclothes raided Hawa Bhaban around 4:30pm yesterday and stayed there for about 20 minutes. During the raid they called in BNP chairperson's office's computer operator SM Parvez and picked him up, the sources added.

Meanwhile, IO of the extortion case filed against Tarique visited Hawa Bhaban yesterday afternoon along with seven to eight other police officials to get a sketch of the place of occurrence of the alleged crime.

"It's a routine work. We neither raided Hawa Bhaban, nor arrested anyone from there," said IO Mahbub Morshed.