‘Instigating Students’: Court to decide on arrest warrant against Fakhrul on Jan 22

A Dhaka court will decide on January 22 whether to issue arrest warrants against BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and two others in a case over “instigating students to wage an anti-government movement” last year.

The other two accused are: BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed.

After receiving probe report from police, Metropolitan Magistrate Md Habibur Rahman Chowdhury yesterday set the date for passing the order on the issue.

On February 6, Inspector Mohammad Sentu Miah of Tejgaon Police Station submitted a probe report that mentioned the three BNP leaders’ involvement with the incident.

AB Siddique, president of Jananetri Parishad -- a pro-Awami League organisation -- on August 6 last year filed the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate AHM Tuah.

Taking cognisance of the charges, the magistrate directed the officer-in-charge of Tejgoan Police Station to investigate the matter and submit a report.

On July 29 last year, two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College -- Abdul Karim Rajib and Dia Khanam Mim -- were run over and killed while nine were injured when two buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan were recklessly racing each other. The incident ignited widespread protests across the country.

On August 4 the same year, an audio clip of a telephone conversation allegedly between BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and an unknown man over aggrevating the student protests through infiltration went viral on Facebook and YouTube.

In the case, Siddique stated that the conversation between the two was a conspiracy against the government and should be brought to trial.