A group of 200-250 people linked to the BNPโs Jubo Dal and Swechchhasebak Dal attacked the Patgram police station on Wednesday night and vandalised various rooms.
They also damaged the police van and snatched two people, who were sentenced to one month in prison by a mobile court for collecting tolls from trucks and giving money receipts in the Sareo Bazar area.
Another group of 60-70 BNP supporters obstructed a team from the nearby Hatibandha police station when they were going to Patgram to protect their colleagues.
The local BNP has refuted the allegations as baseless and blamed the police instead.
On Friday, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that strict action will be taken against those involved in any kind of immoral activities.
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โThis is why this action is being taken, so that no one from the party gets involved in terrorist activities with anyone. Action will be taken against those who commit crimes. BNP’s stance on immoral and criminal activities is zero tolerance,โ he said.
Rizvi also said that several leaders across the country have been dismissed from the party due to violations of party discipline.
According to Patgram Upazila administration, police station and local sources, on June 1, the Mineral Resources Development Bureau (BMD) granted a lease to extract stones from nine stone quarries on the Dharla River in Patgram, Lalmonirhat. The lease was taken by Badsha Jahangir Mostazir, a member of the district BNP and former president of Patgram Upazila Swechchhasebak Dal, and Mahmud Hossain, joint convener of Patgram Municipal Jubo Dal.
According to the terms of the lease, the sand-mixed stones will have to be extracted completely manually, non-mechanically, and in the traditional way. No excavators, drill dredgers, or bomb machines can be used in any way. However, local people have alleged that the lessee’s people are not following that condition.
The lessee’s people were collecting royalties by stopping sandstone trucks outside the designated places. On Wednesday evening, Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Uttam Kumar conducted a mobile court on the Lalmonirhat-Patgram road in Sareo Bazar of Patgram Municipality after receiving the complaint.
At that time, the mobile court arrested two employees of the lessee, Sohel Rana and Belal Hossain, along with the extortion receipts, and sentenced them to one month in prison. Later, when the two who were sentenced were brought to the police station, the attack occurred.
Patgram police station OC Mizanur Rahman told Prothom Alo: “Immediately after the two were brought to the police station, 200 to 250 people attacked the police station. Various rooms of the police station were vandalised. Several laptops and desktop computers, and window panes were vandalised. At one stage, they vandalised the police van and snatched the two convicted accused. Eight policemen, including me, were injured in this.”
He said that injured sub-inspectors Sakhawat Hossain and Mashiur Rahman have been admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
Leaseholder Mahmud Hossain held a press conference on Thursday afternoon to blame the police for the incident.
He claimed: โWe have legally taken the stone quarry lease. Patgram Police Station OC Mizanur demanded a large sum of money from them. They took away two of their employees under the leadership of the OC. Then, when they came to the police station to inquire, the OC misbehaved with them. An argument broke out with the OC. They fired rubber bullets and batons at us. They beat 16 of our employees with batons and sent them to the hospital.โ
However, OC Mizanur Rahman claimed that the allegation of demanding money was false.
Upazila BNP General Secretary Waliur Rahman told Prothom Alo that BNP has no involvement in this incident. The leaseholder legally got the lease of nine stone mahals.
Accordingly, people are mining stones and sand. They may have had a disagreement with the police administration on some economic issue. On Wednesday, the police, led by the OC went and got into an argument with them. At that time, they were caught and brought to a mobile court and jailed for two months.
Later, the people went to the police station and discussed it with the police. At one point in the discussion, they got into a fight. The police also attacked the people unexpectedly.
According to the upazila administration and police station sources, the police station was attacked and vandalised until 12 midnight. Later, BGB members were deployed in front of the police station.
SI Habibur Rahman filed a case on charges of obstruction of government work and vandalism in the attack and vandalism at the Patgram police station.
Patgram police station OC Mizanur Rahman said that a case has been filed naming 27 people. In addition, more than 1,000 people have been made anonymous accused.
After the investigation, four people were arrested in the attack on the police station. They are Abu Kalam, 55, Rafiq, 49, Habibul, 46, and Maidul, 34.
Lalmonirhat Superintendent of Police Md Tariqul Islam told Prothom Alo that additional police were deployed in Patgram and Hatibandha police stations.
Some 100 members of APBN are patrolling and operating with the police. Two cases have been filed in two police stations. Law enforcement agencies are working to investigate the incident and arrest the criminals, the SP said.
BNP refutes involvement
Patgram Upazila BNP held a press conference at 1pm on Friday to highlight the party’s position on the incident. In a written statement at the party’s temporary office, BNP central committee member Hasan Rajib Pradhan claimed that the lessees used their own tokens to keep accurate records of stone transport trucks in the interest of marketing the stones.
Hasan Rajib claimed that the group that had been evading government revenue for a long time was jealous and engaged in a deep conspiracy against the lessee from the beginning. On the night of the incident, UNO Uttam Kumar Das arrested two employees of the lessee and took them to the office, sentenced them through a mobile court, and handed them over to the police station. After learning about the incident, when the lessees went to the police station to talk to the OC, the OC and the accompanying force misbehaved and physically assaulted some businessmen, including the lessee.
At one point, during a heated exchange of words between the local police and the agitated businessmen, the police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets, seriously injuring about 17 businessmen.
The press conference said that after learning about the matter, Patgram Upazila BNP leaders went to the spot and calmed the agitated crowd and brought the situation under control. Various types of news are being circulated involving BNP to divert the incident to a different sector, which is tarnishing the image of BNP.
At that time, the post made on Facebook by Md Sarjis Alam, the chief organiser of the northern region of the Jatiya Nagorik Party, was commented on as โunintentional, purposeful, and sad.โ
Attackers identified
Hatibandha police station sources said that in the incident of obstructing the police, Upazila Swechchhasebak Dal Convener Shah Nurnabi (Kajal), Member Secretary Sohel Talukder, Upazila Krishak Dal Convener Aminur Rahman, Member Secretary Matiur Rahman, Upazila Jubo Dal President Yunus Ali Khandaker and Upazila Chhatra Dal President Rubel Islam led from the spot.
In this regard, Shah Nurnabi claimed that they did not obstruct any person. โFour or five of us went regarding a case. He (OC) was saying he will go here for an operation. At that time, the OC misbehaved with us. Then one or two people got angry with him, got angry. Maybe someone called from there. After two or four leaders and activists gathered, there was an argument among them about it. That’s all; we didn’t stop him.โ
However, OC Mahmudun-Nabi said, the CCTV footage in this regard is in the hands of the police. On Thursday afternoon, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Hatibandha police station Shahedul Islam filed a case under criminal sections at the police station on charges of assault, illegal blockade, obstruction of official duties, and threats. The police are trying to arrest the accused.
When reporters asked Rajib Pradhan about the barricade of BNP leaders and activists in front of Hatibandha police station, he did not comment. Later, he told Prothom Alo that the matter had not come to his attention. He did not know who had caused this incident and why.
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