The court has ordered the sending of 8 arrested accused on a two-day remand in the case filed at Tejgaon Police Station regarding the attack, arson, and looting at the Prothom Alo office.
On Thursday, after a hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasan Shahadat’s court issued the order. State counsel Shamsuddoha Suman confirmed the matter.
Defence lawyers had sought bail during the hearing which the court rejected, ordering a two-day remand for each of the 8 accused.
The accused sent on remand are Md Naim Islam (25), Md Saidur Rahman (25), Abul Kashem (33), Md Prantao Shikdar (21), Md Raju Ahmed (33), Md Sagar Islam (37), Md Jahangir (28), and Md Hasan (22).
Earlier, on Wednesday, the newly assigned investigation officer of this case, Sub-Inspector Tridip Barua of Detective Branch of police had presented a seven-day remand application for these eight accused. During the remand hearing, Dhaka’s Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Aowlad Hossain Mohammad was not satisfied with the investigation and extended the hearing by another day.
At that time, addressing the new investigation officer in court, he said, “You asked for remand for 8 accused. Specific evidence is needed to determine who was and wasn’t involved in the case. How will the investigation proceed like this? To ask for remand, at least a minimum preparation is needed.”
Addressing Tridip, the judge said, “You are new to this case, look into it a bit, come tomorrow with more preparation. It cannot be done like this.” Prior to this, Inspector Abdul Hannan of Tejgaon Police Station was in charge of the investigation.
He had applied for a seven-day remand on 23 December. Later, on 28 December, Sub-Inspector Tridip Barua of Detective Police was given the responsibility of investigating this case.
State Prosecutor Advocate Shamsuddoha Suman argued for remand for the accused.
During yesterday’s hearing in court, defence had argued, “None of the accused’s names were mentioned in the FIR. In the Hadi murder case, the accused only made posts. That is not a crime. They have been arrested merely because of the posts. Remand is being sought because of the posts. They posted about the death of their comrade (Hadi). All the accused are July fighters. Prothom Alo has done Awami League’s work. Everyone has grievances against them. We do too. Making a post cannot be a crime. There is no reason to seek remand. If needed, question them at the jail gate.”
Later, the court told the defence lawyers, “A Daily Star journalist played a significant role in the July uprising, who was trapped in the fire that day. What would you say about that case? You cannot make blanket statements against someone. Both sides need to be considered.”
Later, the court set Thursday for the remand hearing.
According to the remand application, during the investigation, based on interrogation and specific information from people of various levels in the area and reliable sources, raids were conducted in multiple places to arrest these accused.
Looted cash of Tk50,000 and one refrigerator and one LED TV purchased with the looted money were recovered and seized from accused Md Naim Islam (25). The other accused were present at the scene during the incident and engaged in sabotage activities.
The application further stated that to ensure justice for the plaintiff and protect the state’s image, to collect the names and addresses of other accused involved in the incident, to identify and arrest the accused, to identify the abettors, and to recover the looted goods, cash, and other items, it is absolutely necessary to interrogate the accused in police custody for seven days.
The FIR of the case states that on 18 December, at around 11:15pm, 20 to 30 unknown miscreants, armed with domestic weapons, sticks, and combustible materials, attacked the Prothom Alo office in Karwan Bazar. When police obstructed them, they illegally gathered in front of the Prothom Alo office and chanted provocative slogans.
They gathered people by calling various places and posting on social media. They continued to post inflammatory posts to attack Prothom Alo. 400 to 500 miscreants from various places gathered in front of the Prothom Alo office.
It is further stated that around 11:50pm, they broke the glass and shutter of the Prothom Alo office gate and engaged in vandalism, looting, and arson. They broke the front glass of the building, threw furniture, goods, and documents downstairs, and set them on fire. The miscreants looted around 150 computers, laptops, electrical equipment, money kept in lockers, and books of Prothoma Prakashani from various floors.
They damaged the building’s fire-fighting system. They broke the CCTV cameras to destroy evidence. They also obstructed the fire service from extinguishing the fire. During the attack, vandalism, and arson, the value of only the looted assets was Tk2.50 crore. Including everything, the amount of loss was mentioned as Tk32 crore in the FIR.
Regarding the incident, Prothom Alo’s Head of Security, Major (Retd) Md Sazzadul Kabir, filed the case as the plaintiff.
