The police have picked up the top two leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) Magura district unit in the early hours of Tuesday.
They lifted Ali Ahmed, the convener of Magura BNP, from his residence in the Sadar upazila’s Kanchanpur area around 1:00am and later detained Akter Hossain, the unit’s member secretary, from his residence in the district town around 1:30am.
Local BNP leaders alleged that the police arrested the duo to keep the party men under pressure ahead of the protest programme announced from the Dhaka rally.
Shamsunnahar, wife of Ali Ahmed, told Prothom Alo over phone that the cops have picked her husband up without referring to any case. They only said the officer-in-charge (OC) wants to have a conversation with him.
“I told the policemen why he was being taken during this winter night. He (Ali Ahmed) would have met him (by himself) if he was called over phone,” said Shamsunnahar, adding they reached Magura around 9:00pm after performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia and fell asleep early.
Ikramul Kabir, son of Aktar Hossain, said the police went to their residence around 1:30pm and arrested his father over a case filed over subversive activities. When Ikramul sought an arrest or search warrant, the police said, “Do not make trouble, and then we will have to make trouble too.”
They also searched the residence before leaving, added Ikramul Kabir.
Mustafizur Rahman, officer in-charge of Magura sadar police station, confirmed their detention, but declined to mention any reason or case behind it.
An official of Sadar police station said on the condition of anonymity that they were detained because of the BNP's protest march. It was yet to be decided until 11:00 am whether they will be shown arrested in a case or will be released after grilling. This is why no one is making any comment on the issue.
Alamgir Hossain, joint convener of district BNP, denounced the detention and said as the BNP has a demonstration programme on Tuesday, the leaders have been detained to create fear among the partymen.