Attack on Prothom Alo office: Another accused held, placed on 3-day remand

A Dhaka court has granted a three-day remand for Anwar Hossain, 38, who was arrested in a case filed over the attack, looting and arson at the Prothom Alo office.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam passed the order after a hearing on Monday. The matter was confirmed to Prothom Alo by state prosecutor Shamsuddoha Sumon.

Anwar Hossain is an organiser of the central committee of Sramik Shakti, the workers’ wing of the National Citizen Party (NCP).

Earlier, the investigating officer in the case, Sub-Inspector Shah Minhaj Uddin of the web-based crime investigation team under the Detective Branch (DB) of police, produced the accused before the court and sought a five-day remand.

According to the remand petition, Anwar Hossain, a resident of Sonapur village in Raipur upazila of Lakshmipur, is currently in jail in connection with another case. Statements from local residents, video footage and information obtained during the investigation had yielded important evidence of his involvement in the attack on the Prothom Alo office.

The remand petition further said that some of the attackers had spread provocative posts on social media, prompting another 350 to 450 people from different parts of Dhaka to gather there. At one stage, they broke the shutter and glass at the gate of Prothom Alo’s office in Karwan Bazar and entered the premises, where they carried out vandalism.

During the remand hearing, the IO told the court that Anwar Hossain needed to be questioned in order to uncover the mystery behind the incident, identify the masterminds and those who gave instructions for the attack, arrest unnamed accused, recover looted items and establish the identities of others involved.

Following the remand order of the court, IO Shah Minhaj Uddin told Prothom Alo, “We had sought a five-day remand in the interest of a proper investigation into the case. After the hearing, the court, being satisfied, granted a three-day remand.”

Court sources said that 38 accused have so far been arrested in the case, of whom 19 have secured bail. The next date fixed for the appearance of the accused is 9 July.

Anwar Hossain was arrested in Raipur, Lakshmipur, on 31 May on charges of making derogatory and defamatory remarks about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Facebook. He was arrested in a case filed under the Cyber Security Act.

On the night of 18 December last year, an extremist group attacked the Prothom Alo building in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka.

The attackers broke the shutters of the building’s main entrance, entered the premises and carried out widespread vandalism, looting and arson.

On the same night, they also attacked the offices of The Daily Star and Chhayanaut. According to police sources, some of those who attacked Prothom Alo later also took part in the attack on The Daily Star building.

The following Friday evening, the Udichi office was also attacked and set on fire.