A Dhaka court on Tuesday fixed September 9 for a hearing on the police plea in connection with a 10-day remand for Hefazat-e-Islam leader Mufti Muhammad Wakkas in each of the two sabotage cases lodged against him in connection with the mayhem at Shapla Chattar on May 5. Personnel of the Detective Branch of the police arrested Wakkas, deputy chief of the Dhaka city unit of Hefazat-e-Islam, a Quami madrasa-based Islamic organisation, from Malibagh Chowdhurypara area in the city on Monday afternoon. He was charged with the Shapla Chattar mayhem that occurred on May 5.
Wakkas is also general secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam, which is part of the Islami Oikkya Jote, a member of the main opposition 18-Party Alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner (public relations) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, had earlier told The Independent, “He was arrested in connection with a case filed with Shahbagh police station following the Shapla Chattar mayhem on May 5. He would be produced before the court on Tuesday and police remand would be sought.”
The police said Mufti Mohammad Wakkas, the former state minister for religious affairs during the regime of HM Ershad, was accused in 10 cases filed with Motijheel and Paltan police stations, including the case of the killing of police sub-inspector Mohammad Shajahan.
An inspector of the Detective Branch of the police, who is also the investigation officer of two cases filed with Motijheel police station against Hefazat-e Islam leader Mufti Muhammad Wakkas, produced him before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka, seeking a 10-day police remand in each of the two cases. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Erfan Ullah, after hearing the plea, fixed September 9 for a hearing on the police plea.
The court also ordered that Wakkas be sent to jail while responding to a defence plea to defer the order.
The remand pleas, in the cases filed with Motijheel police, claimed that lots of vehicles and government offices were damaged at Dhaka’s Motijheel, Fakirapool, Paltan, Ittefaq More, Gopibagh, Kamalapur and Dilkusha on May 5 at the direct instigation of the leaders of the top 18-Party Alliance with the aim of toppling the government.
The police wanted to quiz the naeb-e-ameer of the Dhaka city unit of the Hefazat in connection with the vandalism.
-With The Independent input
