Goyeshwar lands in jail, 54 BNP men remanded

A Dhaka court today sent BNP Standing Committee Member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and party leader Farid Ahmed Juwel to jail in a case filed for attacking policemen and vandalising vehicles in Dhaka yesterday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate court Mahmudul Hasan passed the order rejecting their bail prayers and remand petitions against them in the case filed with Ramna Police Station.

Gayeshwar was arrested from in front of Police Plaza last night while other BNP leaders from different parts of Dhaka.

A female BNP activist is detained near the High court area on Wednesday, 31 January, 2018. Photo: Star/Amran Hossain

The court also placed Anindya Islam Amit, son of BNP leader Tariqul Islam, on a three-day remand and 35 others out of the 38 accused on a two-day remand in the same case.

The same court put 18 other BNP leaders on two-day remand in two cases filed with Shahbagh Police Station.

READ MORE: Goyeshwar arrested for ‘plotting attack’

Three lawsuits have been filed against several hundred BNP men, including its frontline leader Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, over yesterday’s incident near the High Court in the capital.

Two cases were recorded with Shahbagh Police Station last night for attacking a prison van near High Court area while another case was filed with Ramna Police Station for beating policemen and vandalising vehicles.

Abul Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Shahbagh Police Station, confirmed The Daily Star of the lawsuit and said it implicates about 700-800 activists and leaders of the BNP.

Ramna Police Station OC Kazi Moinul Hossian told The Daily Star the lawsuit was filed under Special Powers Act against over a hundred BNP men including Standing Committee member Goyeshwar.

According to primary statements, all the cases allege obstruction of police duty, attacking police, destruction of state property and disrupting the law and order situation.

Hundreds of BNP men swooped on police yesterday and snatched away some of their fellows who were detained. In the process, three policemen were injured and a prison van was vandalised.

The incident happened around 3:00pm when the motorcade of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was crossing the area on way to her Gulshan home from a court in Bakshibazar, said witnesses.