Khaleda shown arrested in Comilla arson case

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson and former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, now in jail, has been shown arrested in Comilla arson attack case. 

A Comilla court issued an arrest warrant for Khaleda and 48 others in a murder case filed over the 2015 arson attack on a bus in Chouddagram upazila of Comilla.

Eight people were killed and scores injured in the arson attack during a sturdy street campaign of BNP, marking the first anniversary of the controversial 5 January 2014 general elections.

Comilla court police sub-inspector Subrata Banerjee sent the arrest warrant to Dhaka.

Khaleda’s counsel and Bangladesh Bar Council member Md Kaimul Haque told Prothom Alo on Monday that Gulshan police station has already shown Khaleda arrested in the case.

Comilla’s cognizance court has fixed 25 February as the trial date for the arson attack case.

It is to be noted that the former prime minister was sent to jail on 8 February after a makeshift court convicted and sentenced her to five years in jail in a graft case. 

The authorities concerned have given a broad hint that Khaleda may have to stay longer than initially expected time in jail.

The former prime minister is likely to be shown arrested in more cases in which arrest warrants were issued.

Now kept in Nazimuddin Road jail, abandoned central jail, in the city following her five-year imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust case, Khaleda Zia has been facing as many as 34 lawsuits. Warrant for her arrest has been issued in four cases so far.