Hefajat’s 2013 mayhem in Dhaka: 2 central leaders among 3 remanded

A Dhaka court today placed three Hefajat-e-Islam men, including two of its central leaders, on a five-day remand each in a case filed over the mayhem in Dhaka in May 2013.

They are Hefajat-e-Islam assistant organising secretary Mufti Shakhawat Hossain Razi, assistant secretary general Maulana Monzurul Islam Afendi and activist Mufti Fakhrul Islam.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Morshed Al Mamun Bhuiyan passed the order after Investigation Officer Harun-Or-Rashid produced the trio with a 10-day remand prayer in a case filed with Paltan Police Station, court sources said.

In today's forwarding report, IO Harun, also an inspector of Detective Branch (DB) of police, said that he found their involvement with the incident, and they need to be remanded for more information about the mayhem.

Claiming themselves innocent, all three Hefajat men told the court that they were not present at the place of occurrence and they were not involved with the incident.

The three accused were arrested from the different places of the capital yesterday.

On May 5, 2013, thousands of members of Hefajat, a Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist organisation, clashed with law enforcers and ruling Awami League men, turning Motijheel and Paltan areas into a battlefield.

They set fire to hundreds of shops, vehicles and police outposts and looted stores, including those with Islamic books. Clashes also took place in different other districts in the following couple of days.

A total of 83 cases were filed in seven districts including Dhaka, accusing 3,416 named and 84,796 unnamed people. Many of the accused were from Hefajat, Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP.