B'Baria Attack: Expelled AL leader remanded
A Brahmanbaria court yesterday placed expelled local Awami League leader Suruj Ali, a key suspect who allegedly orchestrated the Nasirnagar hate attacks on October 30 last year, on a two-day remand over the incident.
The court of Brahmanbaria Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shafiqul Islam passed the order after the investigators produced him before the court seeking seven days' remand, said court sources.
Earlier on Monday, investigators produced him before a Brahmanbaria court seeking remand in a case filed for carrying out an attack on local Gour temple, but the court ordered to send him to jail due to lack of necessary documents, Brahmanbaria Court Inspector Mahbubur Rahman and the court sources said.
Detectives in Brahmanbaria arrested Suruj, who was terminated from the post of Chapartola union AL president for his alleged involvement in the October 30 hate attacks, from a house in Chapartola union of Nasirnagar upazila around 8:15pm Sunday night.
He was on the run since the mayhem on the Hindus and their property.
Suruj is one of the key instigators behind the attacks that saw vandalising of over 100 houses and at least 17 temples belonging to the local Hindu community, according to victims and eyewitnesses.
They said Suruj was seen riding on a motorbike, instigating people to attack the houses and temples of the Hindus, by referring to an "anti-Islamic" Facebook post made on an account belonging to a Hindu fisherman named Rasraj.
A police probe recently found that someone else hacked Rasraj's Facebook account and posted the "anti-Islamic" content hurting sentiments of the Muslims.
On October 30, Suruj attended a rally in the playground of Ashutosh Pilot High School at Nasirnagar Sadar union and gave provocative slogans, asking to launch an attack on the Hindus.
Many people told The Daily Star correspondent during a visit to Nasirnagar following the incident that Suruj even threatened to kill the Hindus and asked them to leave Bangladesh and go to India.
Officer-in-Charge Mofiz Uddin Bhuiyan of Detective Branch of Police in Brahmanbaria said a video footage bears the evidence of Suruj's involvement in the Gour temple attack.
On the fateful day, he instigated other attackers while waggling a stick in his hand and riding a motorbike belonging to one Haji Billal, said the DB official.
The DB official added that Suruj gave an instigating speech at a rally arranged to protest the "demeaning of religion".
Sub-inspector Ishtiaq Ahmed of Nasirnagar Police Station, also investigation officer of the case, said Suruj might be shown arrested in other cases filed in connection with the incident after proper investigation.
The Brahmanbaria AL sacked temporarily Suruj and two other local AL leaders -- Abul Hashem and Faruq Mia -- after allegations surfaced against their involvement in the October 30 hate attacks.