Gazipur chairman aspirant held for 2 hrs

An Awami League rebel chairman candidate in Sreepur upazila was released two hours after he was picked up by law enforcers in Sreepur upazila of Gazipur this afternoon.

Supporters of Abdul Jalil, a contestant from Gazipur, blocked Dhaka-Mymensingh highway after he was picked up by a plain-clothes team of Rapid Action Battalion around 2:30pm, said Sanwar Hossain, officer-in-charge of Mawna Highway Police Station.

Jalil was campaigning at Bormi union of the upazila ahead of the March 15 upazila election, he added.

The OC however did not specify the reason behind the arrest.

As the news spread, hundreds of his supporters took to the highway at Mawna intersection, creating a four-kilometer-long traffic jam on the both sides of the highway, reports our Gazipur correspondent quoting the police official.

Jalil was later taken to Rab-1 headquarters in Uttara and was released after two hours around 4:15pm, the AL leader told The Daily Star.

He, however, declined to make any comment in this regard.

The supporters were still occupying the highway even after their leader’s release when this report was filed.

AL district unit organising secretary Iqbal Hossain Sabuj got the blessing from local unit of the party as the chairman candidate for the polls scheduled for March 15 while the party’s grass-roots gave support to Jalil, sources said.

Jalil’s supporters feared that Jalil might have been arrested as a conspiracy to keep him outside the polls.