Mamunul Haque. File photo

Around 700 Hefajat men, including its Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque, were sued yesterday over vandalasing a resort and attacking police in Narayanganj's Sonargaon on April 3.

Law enforcers filed two cases with Sonargaon Police Station against 83 named and 500-600 unnamed Hefajat activists.

The other case filed by a local journalist with the same station had accused 17 named and 70-80 unnamed activists of the Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist organisation.

Mamunul was made accused in the two cases.

Meanwhile, Rab detained Rafiqul Islam Madani, 27,  also known as "Shishu Bokta", at his house in Purbadhola area of Netrakona on charge of spreading anti-state and provocative statements.

On April 3, Rafiqul, a speaker in waz mahfils, appeared on Facebook Live and spoke in support of Mamunul, following the incident at the resort.

"A Rab team detained him after he created chaos and made irresponsible statements," said Rab Director (legal and media wing) Commander Khandaker Al Moin.

After the news of Rafiqul's detention spread, Mamunul uploaded a Facebook post demanding the former's immediate release.

Hefajat also issued a statement calling for the release.

On March 25, police detained Rafiqul from Motijheel area during a demonstration, protesting the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence.

He was later released.

In another development, Rab yesterday arrested a BNP leader from his house in Mijmiji area of Narayanganj's Siddhirganj in a case filed over vandalism and arson attack on vehicles in the district on March 28 when Hefajat enforced a daylong strike.

The arrestee is Iqbal Hossain, 42, councilor of Narayanganj City Corporation ward-2 and a member of the district's BNP convening committee.

Nine cases were filed with Rupganj and Siddhirganj police stations after Hefajat carried out a rampage on March 28 in Narayanganj. Several local leaders and activists of the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami were accused in the cases.

ASP Jasim Uddin Chowdhury of Rab-11 said Iqbal was among the accused in one of the cases.

THE CASE BY THE JOURNO

The journalist who filed the case yesterday was assaulted by Hefajat supporters.

Habibur Rahman, 40, Sonargaon correspondent of private television channel Channel S, alleged that Hefajat men also vandalised his house early Tuesday.

Md Zayedul Alam, superintendent of police in Narayanganj, said the journalist, in the case statement, said Mamunul and a woman were confined at the resort by some locals on April 3.

As the news spread, some journalists rushed to the spot, went live on Facebook and asked the Hefajat leader different questions, the statement said.

Later, several Hefajat men alleged that Habibur had grabbed Mamunul by his beard. Since then, Hefajat men had been intimidating the journalist, said the statement. 

In the early hours of Tuesday, while the journalist was sleeping at his home in Bhatirchar village, Hefajat leaders and activists attacked the house, dragged him out and asked him to apologise to Mamunul on Facebook Live. As Habibur refused to do so, he was beaten up, the complaint read.

Police arrested a Hefajat activist named Md Mostafa, 40, over vandalism at the resort.

In another development, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday said Hefajat was continuously causing mayhem in different parts of the country and it had crossed "all levels of tolerance".

At a press conference at his residence in the capital, Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, said the patience of the country had a limit and exceeding it would bring Hefajat dire consequences.

AL Joint Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif yesterday visited party leaders and activists houses, which were attacked by Hefajat supporters in Sonargaon.

He said those who were creating anarchy in the name of religion should be brought to book.

Instructing the aggrieved leaders and activists to file cases, Hanif said that the miscreants of Hefajat, BNP and Jamaat, who committed vandalism and arson attacks, should be identified and sued.

BCL LEADER 'HARRASED'

In Sylhet, a Chhatra League leader of Dhaka University was allegedly harassed by many locals of Jayasree union of Sunamganj's Dharmapasha on Tuesday afternoon in police presence over a Facebook post criticising Hefajat-e-Islam.

The BCL leader, Afzal Khan, 24, a Master's student of the department of social welfare, is  a deputy secretary for the DU BCL international affairs unit.

He alleged that union AL General Secretary Abul Hashem Alam's son Al Muzahid led a mob to harass him. They held him inside the union AL office for around two hours and kept harassing him even after police arrived.

Police handcuffed him while taking him to the local police station, he alleged.

Muzahid denied the allegations.

In a statement yesterday, Dhaka University unit of BCL President Sanjit Chandra Das and General Secretary Saddam Hossain condemned the incident and demanded that everyone involved be punished.

Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of Sunamganj Police, said, "Being informed by the DU BCL president, a police team rushed to the spot and rescued him [Afzal]. We're investigating the incident."

Police sources said SI Jahirul Islam and ASI Anwar Hossain were closed to Police Lines following the incident. SP Mizanur declined to make any comment in this regard.