A court has ordered 15 individuals, arrested in the case filed at Tejgaon Police Station regarding the attack, arson, and looting at the office of the national daily Prothom Alo in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka, to be sent to jail.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana’s court issued this order after a hearing on Monday evening. The accused sent to jail are Naim Islam (25), Sagar Islam (37), Ahad Sheikh (20), Bipul (20), Nazrul Islam alias Minhaj (20), Jahangir (28), Sohail Mia (25), Hasan (22), Russel (26), Abdul Barek Sheikh alias Alamin (31), Rashedul Islam (25), Saidur Rahman (25), Abul Kashem (33), Prapt Sikdar (21), and Raju Ahmed (33).
During the hearing, a defence lawyer, Hossain Ahmad, said, “Our clients have been falsely implicated in the case. We condemn the attack on the media. We seek bail for the sake of justice.”
He further said, “We want a date for the bail hearing of these accused. We want to know why they were arrested. We request a speedy investigation report.”
Another defence lawyer, Emdadullah Mollah, said, “Initially there were 20/30 accused in this case. If arrests were made based on photos, the real culprits would have been arrested. It is not stated what the charges are against the accused, where they were arrested from.
“Barek is a rickshaw puller, he has been arrested. Naim Islam bought a TV and fridge with his own money, but he has been shown as arrested for looting. There are no charges, no elements of offense against the other accused. Rickshaw pullers, shopkeepers have been shown as arrested through night raids on their homes. The accused are innocent, and we seek their bail.”
At this time, state’s lawyer, Omar Faruk Faruki, said during the hearing, “We do not want someone who has not committed a crime to be prosecuted. But creating a mob and setting fire is not right. The sections of the case are non-bailable. I believe the newspaper with the highest circulation in the country is Prothom Alo. The Daily Star is followed all over the world. Setting fire, looting, and threatening to kill journalists have dishonored these institutions.”
He said, “When we are discussing Hadi’s killing, this issue has overshadowed it. Prothom Alo’s newspapers along with their library were all looted. They set them on fire. The accused threatened to kill journalists, who took shelter on the roof in fear. Additionally, an estimated loss of Tk32 crore has occurred.”
He further said, “When the vandalism started, it was live. From this live footage, it was seen who was involved. They have been identified and arrested from there. We want the accused to be in jail.”
During the hearing, one accused said, “I was entering the garage driving my rickshaw, and they arrested me. We are not criminals. I did not do any vandalism. I don’t know anything.”
According to the case statement, Major (Retd) Md Sazzadul Kabir (age: 61), head of security at Prothom Alo, filed the case at Tejgaon in connection with the attack. It states:
Around 11:15pm on 18 December, 20-30 unknown miscreants attempted to attack the Prothom Alo office with weapons and incendiary materials, which the police had initially prevented them. Faced with resistance, they held an illegal gathering in front of the office, started chanting provocative slogans, and called for more people to gather through social media.
This led to around 350-450 more people gathering in front of the newspaper’s office in Kawran Bazar and carried out its attack on the premises.
The attackers broke the gate shutter and glass, went inside, vandalised and looted furniture, equipment, documents, and various other items, and set fire to the building.
The building’s fire safety system was destroyed, CCTV footage was damaged, and the Fire Service was obstructed from working. The fire caused damage to computers, laptops, documents, servers, financial papers, etc., totaling approximately Tk32 crore to the institution.
Due to this incident, Prothom Alo’s printed edition and online operations remained closed on December 19.
Based on information obtained during the investigation, several accused were arrested. Tk50,000, a refrigerator, and an LED TV were recovered from one of the arrestees, Naim Islam.
The investigation of the case remains ongoing, with the addresses of the accused yet to be verified. For the sake of the investigation, an application was made to keep them detained in jail and to place them on remand for recovering the looted goods.
