Man held for 'bid to attack' chief whip

A man was arrested for attempting an attack on ASM Feroz, chief whip of the Jatiya Sangsad and Patuakhali-2 lawmaker, at Baufal upazila parishad auditorium yesterday.

Around 3:15pm, Abul Basar Roni, 30, entered the auditorium via the northern gate and tried to attack Feroz with a scythe but was intercepted by ASI Md Altaf Hossen and Special Branch of police official Harun-Or-Rashid, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Md Mohsin.

Feroz was in a meeting with 17 education officers of the upazila.

Officer-in-Charge Md Monirul Islam of Baufal Police Station said a man on a motorbike had dropped off Roni at the auditorium and that they were looking for that man.

“We found some marijuana, a mobile phone, and Tk 2,000 cash in Roni's possession,” said the OC.

Feroz claimed that somebody had sent the man to kill people and that Baufal Upazila Chairman and also Chairman of the Upazila Education Committee Engineer Md Mojibur Rahman was mysteriously absent in the meeting.

The chief whip also claimed that a section of the local AL which attacked the opening ceremony of a newly built police station in Patuakhali on February 24 was involved in yesterday's attack.

Locals said Roni is an addict and his father had handed him over to police last year and a mobile court had also sentenced him to six months' imprisonment in a narcotics case.

Mojibur yesterday said he informed the Baufal upazila nirbahi officer on Monday that he would be unavailable at the upazila education committee meeting yesterday since he had a meeting in Patuakhali Zila Parishad. He said he arrived in Baufal yesterday evening and had no involvement in the incident.