BNP leader Habib Un Nabi Sohel detained

BNP joint secretary general and Dhaka south city unit president Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel has been detained from Gulshan area on Tuesday evening.

Gulshan zone of police assistant commissioner Rafiqul Islam confirmed it. He, however, did not say anything about the cause of his detention.

BNP chairperson’s media wing official Shamsuddin Didar told Prothom Alo that Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel has been taken to Gulshan police station after his detention.

He said Sohel has been arrested from Gulshan area.

The cause of his arrest could not be known, Shamsuddin added. "We've come to know that plainclothes police arrested Sohel around 7:25pm," UNB quoted BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi as saying. 

Sohel, also a BNP joint secretary general, went into hiding after BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was sent to jail on 8 February in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Contacted, deputy commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman said their detectives arrested Sohel from Gulshan area on some specific allegations.

A senior police official, wishing anonymity, said the BNP leader was taken to DB office at Minto Road.

Meanwhile, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at an emergency press briefing at the party's Naya Paltan central office alleged that the government arrested Sohel as part of the continuous arrest of BNP leaders and activists in different cases.

He alleged that around 70-80 cases were filed against Sohel over the last eight months.

"We strongly condemn and protest his arrest." The BNP leader demanded the government release Sohel immediately after withdrawing all the 'false' cases filed against him.