BCL men go on rampage
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists of Rajshahi Medical College unit vandalised the offices of city Awami League, Jubo League and BCL at Laxmipur and set ablaze two rooms of the college hostel on Thursday night.
The incident happened around 11:00pm, an hour after some city unit BCL and Jubo League men stormed the private chamber of Muhibul Hasan, general secretary of Rajshahi chapter of Bangladesh Medical Association, and beat him with sticks and iron rods, police said.
Muhibul alleged former president of city Jubo League Asaduzzaman Asad and administrator of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries Ziaul Haque Tuku were behind the attack on him, as he refused to give them Tk 1 lakh in extortion.
Also the general secretary of Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad (Swachip), a pro-AL body, Muhibul was admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, doctors said.
Following the vandalism and arson, Police and Rapid Action Battalion raided the Pinku Hostel of the medical college and recovered a foreign pistol loaded with two bullets, one revolver and a huge number of sticks, iron rods and iron pipes from different rooms.
Rajshahi Metropolitan Police Commissioner M Obaidullah, who was present during the two-hour drive till around 3:30am yesterday, confirmed the seizure.
Police also picked up 12 BCL men from the hostel. Seven of them were later released while the five others were shown arrested in two cases filed for the attacks and the arson.
The arrested are Tanikur Rahman Titu, Mahabbat-e Zakaria, Mizanur Rahman Saurabh, Ashish Kumar and Rakibul Islam -- all activists of RMC unit BCL.
The cases were filed with Rajpara Police Station accusing some 152 people including Muhibul, said Mokarram Hossain, officer-in-charge of the station.
Sources said a group of BCL and Jubo League men attacked Muhibul in his chamber -- Micropath Diagnostic Centre at Laxmipur -- around 10:00pm.
Following this, his supporters in RMC unit of BCL ran amok, vandalising the offices of AL and its affiliated bodies in the same area around 11:00pm.
They also brought down the portraits of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the wall of the AL office and flung to the ground, said Mahfuzul Alam Loton, vice president of city AL.
The group entered the RMC campus around 12:00am and first vandalised and then set fire to the room of Sohel Ahmed, a follower of Asaduzzaman. They also set fire to another room and vandalised yet another.
However, Asaduzzaman and Tuku, the administrator of Rajshahi Chamber, refuted the allegation of demanding money from Muhibul or being involved in the attack on him.
“If the attack [on Muhibul] were carried out for money, why did they [Muhibul's supporters] attack the party offices?” asked Asad.
He said Muhibul used his cadres in the attacks on AL offices and RMC campus, as some AL activists recently protested his “unscrupulous activities”.
A three-member committee headed by medicine department Chairman Saifuddin Ekram was formed to probe the incident within three days.
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