2 JCD men remanded for seven days

Police have arrested two Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists on charges of hurling homemade crude bombs on Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu's residence in Mirpur on June 9.
Mahbubul Alam, 28, was arrested on Monday from the capital's Bailey Road and Akil Mahmud, 32, from Rupnagar. Police also recovered one of the two motorbikes used during the bombing.
Detectives said JCD central unit president, Abdul Kader Bhuiyan Jewel, and Dhaka city (north) senior vice-president, Sharifuddin Jewel, planned the attack while Akil and his associate Firoz supervised the operation.
Contacted, JCD president Jewel denied all allegations and told The Daily Star: “This is a drama and a conspiracy by the government to damage the image of JCD and suppress the opposition.”
He, however, confirmed both the men belonged to the JCD's Titumir College unit.
A Dhaka court granted a seven-day remand for the duo.
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told a press briefing that Mahbub admitted he and three other men -- Masud, Robin and Mim -- hurled handmade bombs at the minister's house.
“They bombed the minister's house to spread fear among the public and make the country-wide strike called by Jamaat-e-Islam the following day [June10] a success,” he added.
“The same gang is responsible for hurling cocktails at the residence of Foreign Minister Dipu Moni on May 28, Awami League leader Mahbubul Alam Hanif on April 13 and in front of the International Crimes Tribunal.”
Police said Akil and Mahbub worked at a consultancy firm run by Engineer Jasim Uddin, an official of the BNP chief Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office.
On interrogation, the arrestees confessed making crude bombs on the Titumir, Dhaka, Tejgaon and Kabi Nazrul college campuses and the Fazle Rabbi Hall of Dhaka Medical College, police said.
Law enforcers on June 15 arrested two more JCD activists from the Chandpur district town on charges of hurling bombs at the foreign minister's house.
Meanwhile, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the arrests of the JCD men and demanded their immediate release.