Former Narayanganj City Corporation mayor Selina Hayat Ivy has been sent to jail following her arrest in connection with the murder of a garment worker during last year’s mass uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Police said a senior judicial magistrate’s court in Narayanganj ordered Ivy to be sent to jail pending investigation after she was brought before the court just hours after her arrest at home.
Inspector Kaiyum Khan confirmed that Ivy was presented before Magistrate Mainuddin Qadir at 10 a.m.
Earlier, while Ivy was being transported by law enforcement, a group of her supporters allegedly attacked the police convoy. The incident occurred at around 6:30 am at Kalir Bazar intersection on Bangabandhu Road in the city.
Police said Ivy’s supporters threw bricks and stones at the convoy and detonated crude bombs, injuring five people, including two police officers.
On Thursday night, police had surrounded Ivy’s residence in the Deobhog area of Narayanganj, where thousands of supporters gathered, leaving police to linger their operation for hours.
Ivy was eventually taken into custody around 5:45 am Friday after she came downstairs and voluntarily entered a police vehicle.
Speaking to reporters as she boarded the vehicle, Ivy said: “The police are taking me away without showing any arrest warrant. If chanting ‘Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu’ is a crime, then I am guilty. But in my 21 years of service to Narayanganj, I have never done anything to harm any party or individual.”
Narayanganj Superintendent of Police Pratyush Kumar Majumder said Ivy is accused in five cases, including charges of murder and attempted murder during the anti-discrimination movement in Siddhirganj and Fatulla.
“She has been shown arrested in one of the murder cases,” he said, adding that an arrest warrant is not required in criminal cases.
Ivy, a three-term mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation and former senior vice-president of the district Awami League, had been residing at home since the fall of the Awami League government and the abolition of the city mayor position by the interim administration.