Police may charge Babunagari for 2013 Motijheel mayhem  

Police have said they will accuse Hefazat-e-Islam bigwig Junaid Babunagari with vandalism and arson charges if he is found involved in the 2013 Shapla Chattar mayhem in Dhaka's Motijheel.

Sayed Nurul Islam, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP, Motijheel Division), told journalists on Sunday that they were investigating the cases filed in the Shapla Chattar incident, and charge sheets would be submitted against him if he was involved.

Junaid Babunagari was the ameer (chief) of the recently dissolved central committee of Hefazat-e-Islam, and now is the convener of the religious advocacy group for madrasa teachers and students.    

In another development Sunday, Narayanganj's Sonargaon police appealed to the court for a 24-day remand in three cases against Mamunul Haque, joint general secretary of the recently dissolved central committee of Hefazat.

The court set 9 May for the hearing on police questioning. The police also sought the court's permission to show Mamunul arrested in the three lawsuits, including a rape case filed with Sonargaon Police Station.

Narayanganj court Inspector Asaduzzaman said Sonargaon police sought a 10-day remand in the rape case filed by a woman whom Mamunul claimed was his second wife. The case was filed on 30 April.

Police also sought a seven-day remand each, in two other cases of violence and vandalism filed with the police station earlier in April.

On 3 April, locals confined Mamunul with a woman at a resort in Narayanganj's Sonargaon. On information, police reached the spot and started questioning him.

Mamunul claimed the woman to be his second wife, though the claim was later refuted by the authorities. By attacking the resort and carrying out vandalism, local Hefazat men and madrasa students snatched Mamunul from the police.

Later, Hefazat also vandalized vehicles on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and the agitated Islamists also torched tyres on the highway.

The upazila Awami League office also came under attack that evening.     

On 18 April, police arrested Mamunul from Dhaka's Mohammadpur area in connection with a case filed with Mohammadpur police station.