Very familiar names also coming up: Home minister

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan addresses a dialogue organised by Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the secretariat in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Prothom Alo

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday said the people who have been arrested over the recent communal violence disclosed the names of several people during interrogation and those names would be made public soon after further confirmation.

Referring to the incident in Noakhali, the minister said you might also hear the names of the people who are very familiar.

Asaduzzaman Khan made the remarks while addressing a dialogue organised by Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum at the secretariat.

UNB adds: “Those who’ve been arrested in Rangpur and Noakhali vandalism cases have disclosed their (instigators) names in their confessional statements given under section 164 of the penal code,” he said.

“So far, 10 cases have been filed over the vandalism triggered following the desecration of holy Quran in Cumilla, and 18 people have been arrested for being directly involved in the criminal acts. Confessional statements of the arrestees are being recorded, and we’ll disclose the names after being hundred percent sure,” the minister added.

The involvement of BNP and Jamaat will also be confirmed after being sure following the scrutiny, he said, adding, “We’ve taken up this incident as a challenge. We had sent the members of the police and all other law enforcement agencies to the spots to unearth the facts,” said the minister.

They spotted the man from the CCTV footage who kept the Quran and arrested the absconding accused who have revealed his name, and they are currently being interrogated, Asaduzzaman said.

“We had a hunch of violence after Jum’a prayers on the day of Dashami and directed the members of the Hindu community to carry out their immersion ritual before that, which they followed,” he mentioned.

The home minister went on saying, “Yet people got divided into two groups equally and unleashed destructive activities keeping the police force busy. And a man, meanwhile, has died jumping into a pond.”

Asaduzzaman said a vested quarter carried it out with a well-thought-out plan to destroy the country’s communal harmony. “And their names will be revealed in no time,” he added.