Allegations of attempts to forcefully pick up Chhatra Dal president

Chhatra Dal general secretary Saif Mahmud speaking at a press conferenceCollected

Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal has alleged that the police in plain clothes had tried to pick its president Kazi Rawnakul Islam up by dragging him by force into their car.

The incident took place in front of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the capital's Dhanmondi area on Friday night.

Saif Mahmud, general secretary of Chhatra Dal made these allegations at a press conference in the capital’s Naya Paltan on Saturday.

He said Kazi Rawnakul Islam was speaking with the leaders and the activists of the party in front of the hospital. At that time, some seven to eight members of law enforcement agencies in plain clothes tried to pick him up by force.

There were two police vehicles nearby at the time. After failing to pick up the Chhatra Dal president from about 45-50 leaders and activists, the police treated everyone indecently and beat up some of them.

Saif Mahmud further alleged that after being failed to pick up the Chhatra Dal leader, the police severely beat up Azizur Rahman, joint secretary of Mymensingh city Chhatra Dal, and Abdur Rahman, former social service secretary of Chhatra Dal’s Cox Bazar unit and taken them away. They were sent to jail by the court on Saturday

Speaking to Prothom Alo regarding this, Ikram Ali Mia, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Dhanmondi police station, said, “We have arrested two members of Chhatra Dal on the allegations of obstructing government duties and harassing police. Police have lodged a case against them as plaintiff on Saturday”

The Chhatra Dal general secretary made several other allegations at the press conference.

He alleged that earlier police picked up another Chhatra Dal leader from the Kakrail intersection on Thursday afternoon. Ashraful, a member of the convening committee of Gulshan Chhatra Dal unit, was going home from BNP’s central office in Naya Paltan.

Ashraful was left blindfolded in Mirpur DOHS area on Friday morning. This morning the family members rescued him and took him to his village home in Netrokona. Chhatra Dal also provided two photographs of Ashraful to the newspersons.

Chhatra Dal leaders claimed that one of the photographs was taken while police were taking him in custody and the other was taken after police left him in the Mirpur DOHS area, which shows Ashraful lying on the road with his hands tied and eyes blindfolded.

When asked whether they spoke to Ashraful after recovery, the Chhatra Dal general secretary said, “I have spoken to his brother. He only informed me that Ashraful had been rescued and taken to his village home. He didn’t want to talk any further.”

When asked about the reason behind these incidents, Saif Mahmud told Prothom Alo, “The government has become worried after the formation of the new committee of Chhatra Dal. I think the law enforcement agencies are behaving in this way only to spread fear among the leaders and the activists of the party.”

Leaders of different levels of the party including Abu Afsan Mohammad Yahya, central organising secretary of Chhatra Dal were present at the press conference.