Salahuddin Ahmed, a former BNP MP and the party’s Commerce Affairs Secretary, was arrested by the Detective Branch of police on Thursday in connection with cases filed over violence during BNP’s sit-in programme in Dhaka on July 29.
A team of DB police arrested Salahuddin along with six others on Hanif Flyover when he was returning home from the High Court, said Salahuddin’s son and Dhaka south unit BNP acting member secretary Tanvir Ahmed Robin.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner and also the DB police chief Mohammad Harun Or Rashid said they arrested Salauddin Ahmed in the Jatrabari area.
He said BNP and its front organisations, including Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Juba Dal, carried out attacks on the police and torched three vehicles during the BNP's agitation programme on July 29.
Harun said four cases were filed with Jatrabari police station in connection with incidents.
He said Salahuddin is the number one accused in two of the four cases, while he was also accused in two other cases. “The DB (Wari Division) has arrested him in those cases and we are taking necessary legal action against him.”
Meanwhile, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing said Salahuddin Ahmed and six other BNP leaders and activists were the latest victims of the government's ongoing repression and arrests.
“They were unfairly picked up by the DB police today [Thursday]. The illegitimate government wants to cover up its misdeeds with arrests and attacks.”
The other arrestees were BNP’s Dhaka south city Ward 62 unit leaders M Shahin, Shah Alam Munshi, Abir Hossain, Niamul Haq, Ward 48 unit activist Nayan and Salahuddin’s car driver M Kajol.
Rizvi strongly denounced the arrest of the BNP leaders and activists and demanded their immediate release.
He also said the government has so far arrested 406 BNP leaders and activists since July 28 centring BNP’s grand rally and sit-in programme.
