Ex-MP sent to jail over Hefajat mayhem

Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury, former MP from Sunamganj-3, was sent to Brahmanbaria Jail on Friday in a case filed over Hefajat violence in late March.

A CID team from Dhaka arrested him around 1:15am Thursday in Sylhet.

Shahinur is the legal affairs secretary of now-dissolved central committee of Hefajat-e-Islam and vice-president of Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam.

He is accused of vandalism and arson at Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila Land Office and other places in the district from March 26-28, said Shahriar Rahman, superintendent of police of Brahmanbaria CID.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Ayesha Begum of Brahmanbaria Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court sent him to jail.

AB Siddique, an office assistant of the land office, filed the case with Brahmanbaria Sadar Model Police Station on April 1.

Between 100 and 120 unnamed individuals were accused in the case.

CID Inspector Qutbul Alam, who is investigating the case, said a petition to place him on a five-day remand was submitted before the court.

The court is yet to set a date for hearing the petition.