885 BNP men sued in 5 cases
Police yesterday sued 885 BNP and its associate bodies' leaders mentioning names and more than 2,250 unnamed individuals over Wednesday's clash at Dhaka's Nayapaltan.
A man was killed and over 50 others, including four journalists, were injured in the clash in the Nayapaltan area on Wednesday. Dhaka Metropolitan Police claimed that 47 cops were injured in the clash.
Subsequently, police filed five cases filed with Paltan, Ramna, Motijheel and Shahjahanpur police stations.
In the cases, identical charges were brought against the BNP leaders including Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie, Amanullah Aman, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas and Abdul Qader Bhuiyan Jewel.
The charges are: unlawful assembly blocking the road, deterring police from carrying out their duties, attack on police with an intent to kill, damage to properties, creating panic among the public and blasting explosives.
Meanwhile, 475 leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies who were arrested following Wednesday's clash were produced before Dhaka courts yesterday.
Aman and Jewel were granted bail in the case filed on charge of subversive activities with Paltan Police Station on grounds of their ailments, while the bail pleas of Rizvi, Anee, Biswas and Khokon were rejected.
They were sent to jail along with 445 others.
The court also granted two-day remands to 23 others in two cases filed with Paltan and Motijheel Police Stations.
Meanwhile, over at Nayapaltan, the DMP yesterday installed CCTV cameras near BNP's headquarters as part of a move to beef up security in the area following the clash.
"It is our responsibility to ensure security for the offices and houses in the Nayapaltan area. We will do everything necessary to ensure public safety," Biplop Kumar Sarker, joint commissioner (operations) of the DMP, told reporters.
Around 11:00am, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam arrived but he was barred from going into the party headquarters.
At 1:15pm, law enforcers asked journalists to leave the Nayapaltan area on security grounds, terming it a crime scene.
Around 4:30pm yesterday, police removed the barricade from the road leading to BNP's office, which it had put up following the clash on Wednesday afternoon.
Then around 8:00pm, more than 100 BNP leaders and workers gathered in front of their party headquarters and chanted slogans. Police dispersed them around 15 minutes later by baton-charging them and detained one from the scene.
THE CASES
Sub-Inspector Mizanur Rahman filed the case with the Paltan police station against 470 named. Some 1,500 to 2,000 others are unnamed accused in the case.
Case document shows accused No. 376 is Russle Majumder, a computer operator at the industries ministry. The complainant mentioned him as a BNP activist who lives in the city's Shanir Akhra.
The SIs of Ramna Model Police Station Rafiqul Islam and Shahidul Islam Masum filed two cases with their police stations naming 168 and 167 individuals respectively.
Kazi Rownaqul Islam Sraban, president of BNP's student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal; Saif Mohammad Jewel, general secretary, and Fazlur Rahman Khokon, former president of JCD, have been accused in both cases.
Islam filed another case with Shahjahanpur Police Station against 52 named and 200 to 250 unknown others for attacking police and blocking roads with sticks, iron roads and through crude bombs at Chanmari Bat Crossing.
Tofael Hossain, the first general secretary of Sunamganj district BNP, is among the accused.
In the case filed with Motijheel police station, SI Nazrul Islam Shikder named 28 accused and many unidentified others for blocking vehicular movement and attacking police at the DIT Extension road in Fakirerpool. Dhaka University JCD president Khorshed Alam Sohel is among the accused.
HUGE AMMUNITION FIRED
In the clash on Wednesday, police fired at least 1,780 rounds of rubber bullets, tear gas canisters and sound grenades in 'self-defence'.
At Nayapaltan, police fired 410 rounds of pellets, 1,003 rounds of rubber bullets, 173 rounds of tear gas canisters, 56 rounds of the soft kinetic projectile and six rounds of sound grenades. At Ramna, police fired 100 rounds of rubber bullets and 32 rounds of tear gas canisters, according to two cases filed with Paltan and Ramna PS.
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