New market clashes: BNP leader arrested for inciting violence
Police yesterday arrested BNP leader Mokbul Hossain for instigating the clashes between shopkeepers and Dhaka College students in the capital's New Market area that left two persons dead and scores others wounded.
AKM Hafiz Akhter, additional commissioner of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told The Daily Star that he was the prime accused in the case filed by police on Wednesday.
Mokbul, former New Market thana BNP president and current member of the party's Dhaka South unit convening committee, was held from his Dhanmondi home and was being interrogated at the DB office on Minto Road, the police official said.
He owns two shops in the New Market. The deadly clash ensued after a worker of one of Mokbul's shops called in some Dhaka College students to "punish" the employee of the other shop following a brawl between the two.
That spilled over into daylong pitched battles between Dhaka College students and shopkeepers the following day.
On Thursday, Mokbul told The Daily Star that one of the shops he owns in New Market is run by his brother and the other by his cousin.
"I have not even gone to New Market area in the last four months. Instead of filing the case against the real culprits, police filed a politically motivated case against leaders of the BNP and its affiliated organisations," he had said.
Yamin Kabir, inspector (investigation) of New Market Police Station, filed one of the cases that named 24 people for obstructing police from discharging duties, assaulting law enforcement officers, and damaging properties. Twelve of the 24, including Mokbul, were accused of instigating the clashes.
Another 800 to 1,000 unidentified Dhaka College students and New Market traders and workers were also accused.
Many of the named accused in the case are current and former leaders of the BNP and its affiliated organisations, according to Mokbul and the opposition party.
Apart from Mokbul, police named Jahangir Hossain Patwary, former general secretary of the BNP New Market thana unit, Harun Hawlader, the unit's organising secretary, Shahidul Islam, former vice-president of the unit and others as accused in the case.
"Among other accused is Tipu, a former Chhatra Dal leader who has been living in London for 15 years and Jahangir [Hossain Patwary] runs his business in Gulistan," Mokbul claimed on Thursday.
The role of police has drawn criticism since the clashes.
In earlier instances where mob violence was involved, it has been seen that police pick up or arrest people from the spot in connection with an incident. In this case, it was different.
The names of the two employees of Mokbul's shops and three Dhaka College students were widely circulated in the media.
But police have not mentioned their names in any of the cases.
After a programme at Rajarbagh yesterday, when a journalist asked Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed if there was political motivation behind accusing the BNP leaders, he said, "I don't know."
The IGP said the incident in New Market area took place in front of everyone and action will be taken in this regard.
Benazir said apart from CCTV footage, journalists have footage on their cameras.
"Be patient, the police are investigating, action will be taken. There have been violations of law, there have been casualties," he said.
Meanwhile, a murder case was filed yesterday over the death of shopkeeper Morsalin, who died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Thursday after suffering injuries during Tuesday's clashes. His brother Nur Mohammad filed the case with the New Market Police Station accusing 100-150 unnamed people.
A total of four cases have been filed over the incident -- two by police and two by the family members of the two victims killed in the clashes. Over 1,500 unnamed people were made accused in these cases.
The two murder cases will be investigated by the DB, said SM Qaiyum, OC of New Market Police Station.
Asked whether they have identified anyone in the murder of 19-year-old computer shop employee Nahid Hossain, DB Deputy Commissioner (Ramna Division) HM Azimul Haque told this newspaper that they were working on it and hopeful of informing the media soon.
Officials said that they have collected photos and footage and based on those they have identified some people.
Meanwhile, following two days of calm since the deadly clashes, customers have been flocking to shops in New Market area since yesterday morning.
Traders expect that the number of shoppers would increase as Eid-ul-Fitr is ahead.
"After the clashes, there is panic among many buyers. Maybe in a day or two it will become normal. We don't want any further problems here. We want to run business smoothly," said a shop owner at Chandrima Super Market.
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