Khaleda shown arrested in arson case, again

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has been shown arrested for the second time in a case filed over the 2015 arson attack on a bus in Chouddagram upazila here that left eight people dead.

Cumilla’s senior judicial magistrate Judge Mustain Billah passed the order as Khaleda did not appear before it on Sunday.

The court also fixed April 10 for the next hearing, said Khaleda Zia's lawyer Kaimul Haque Rinku.

Showing her arrested in the case, the court on March 12 last asked police to produce Khaleda before it on 28 March 2018.

However, Khaleda who is now in Dhaka old central jail did not appear before the court for her illness, said the lawyer.

Eight people were killed and at least 20 others injured when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus at Jogmohanpur in Chouddagram during the BNP-led alliance's movement on 3 February 2015.

Two cases -- one under the Explosive Substances Act and another for murder -- were filed over the incident.

Sub-inspector Nururzzaman filed the murder case against 77 people, including Khaleda.

On 9 October 2017, a Cumilla court ordered the arrest of Khaleda Zia and 45 other leaders and activists of her party in the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act over the arson attack.