None identified yet over arson in Benapole, Mohanganj Express trains
Two cases filed over arson in two trains in the city’s Tejgaon and Gopibagh are yet to see any headway. Although 26 days have passed, law enforcers could not identify anyone involved with the fire in Mohanganj Express train. Also, no one could be arrested over fire in Benapole Express train in the city’s Gopibagh area 10 days after the incident.
Four including a mother and her child were killed as miscreants set Mohanganj Express train on fire on 19 December. Four more were killed as Benapole Express was set on fire in the city’s Gopibagh on 5 January night, 2 days before the general election. Dhaka Railway Police (GRP) filed two separate cases over the incidents. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Detective Branch (DB) of police are also carrying out shadow investigation of the incidents.
RAB-1 on 21 December announced the arrest of 9 people as suspects in the Mohanganj Express fire incident. However, they were released after interrogation as RAB said their involvement was not found.
Supervising officer of investigation and superintendent of Dhaka district railway police Md Anowar Hossain told Prothom Alo on Sunday that none could be identified over fire in Mohanganj Express. It was seen on CCTV footage that the train caught fire, but no footage was found on who set the train on fire.
RAB-1 on 21 December announced the arrest of 9 people as suspects in the Mohanganj Express fire incident. However, they were released after interrogation as RAB said their involvement was not found.
RAB-3 said it learnt the names of four people involved in setting the train afire. In a press conference at Kamalapur railway station on 21 December, RAB-3 director lieutenant colonel Arif Mohiuddin Ahmed said that two of these four are workers of the opposition political party and the other two are vagrants. However, he later said that the pictures found in the CCTV footage did not match those whose names he knew.
Apart from this, on 21 December, a senior officer of the DB said the names and identities of those involved in arson in Mohanganj Express have been found. But now DB officials say information about the arsonists on the train has been found from Jubo Dal leader Mukit, who was arrested in a different case. The information is being verified.
RAB’s legal and media wing director commander Khandaker Al Moin told Prothom Alo on Sunday that no one directly involved with the arson incidents in the two trains has been identified. Efforts are on to identify the arsonists after analysing the newly obtained footage.
Railway police Dhaka district superintendent Anwar Hossain said Dhaka city south unit BNP’s senior joint convener Nabiullah Nabi and city south Jubo Dal leader Kazi Mansur Alam were arrested in Gopibagh fire incident.
He told Prothom Alo on Sunday that the DB has interrogated them on suspicion of their involvement with the arson in the train and sent them to jail after remand in the case. During the remand, they informed police that a virtual meeting on Whatsapp was conducted on 4 January on planning the sabotage. A Jubo Dal leader took the responsibility of setting fire on a train. The information the BNP leaders provided during the remand are being assessed. Police will arrest the Jubo Dal leader if the information is found to be true after verification.
The police officer said a clearer picture of the incident would be available if the Jubo Dal leader can be arrested.