Fakhrul on remand for first time

A Dhaka court for the first time yesterday placed BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on a three-day remand in a case filed for torching a vehicle of the public administration ministry on December 28 last year.

Earlier, police on different times sought permission from the court for placing Fakhrul on remand to find out clues about the arson attack.

But the court rejected both the bail and remand prayers, and allowed police to quiz Fakhrul at the jail gate.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ali Masud Sheikh yesterday passed the remand order after Sub-Inspector of Paltan Police Station Enayet Karim produced Fakhrul before the court with a 10-day remand prayer.

In the remand prayer, Karim, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, said Fakhrul was accused of leading, ordering and advising the party activists to carry out the arson attack with intent to deteriorate the law and order on the eve of a nationwide hartal called by the alliance.

So he needs to be remanded to find out vital clues about the incident, said the IO.

The defence submitted petitions seeking Fakhrul's bail and cancellation of the remand prayer, saying he was implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him politically.

So they prayed for granting the bail to their client and cancelling the remand prayer.

After hearing both the defence and prosecution, the magistrate rejected the bail petition and granted three-day remand for Fakhrul. 

A bus carrying staff of the public administration ministry was set ablaze at the Purana Paltan intersection around 6:00pm on December 28 last year.

Following the incident, Abdul Malek Hawlader, assistant sub-inspector of Paltan police, filed a case accusing 43 named including Fakhrul and 20 to 25 unnamed people.

In the case statement, the opposition leaders were accused of leading, ordering and advising party activists to carry out the arson attack with intent to deteriorate the law and order on the eve of a nationwide hartal called by the alliance.

ASI Malek in the case statement mentioned that at least two homemade bombs had been exploded to kill the driver and helper of the bus.

On January 6, detectives picked up Fakhrul as he came out of the Jatiya Press Club with pro-government journalists protesting his stay there. The BNP leader had been at the press club for around 24 hours.

Immediately after his detention, he was shown arrested in cases filed for instigating the December 24 clash at the capital's Bakshibazar, torching a lawmaker's vehicle and countrywide blasts and vandalism on January 4-5.

Earlier, Fakhrul was arrested thrice and was implicated in more than 70 cases.