Examining 28 Oct police cases: What Fakhrul, other BNP leaders have been accused of

The police have said 37 cases have been filed at several police stations across Dhaka over the violence on 28 October. 

About 1,544 named suspects have also been accused in the case documents.

The most prominent among those is BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who was arrested in a case over an attack on the residence of the chief justice and sent to jail.

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Mirza Fakhrul, alongside BNP leader Mirza Abbas, are also among the 164 suspects named in connection with the killing of a policeman, according to police officials. 

Additionally, six cases have been filed over arson and property damage, according to Hafizur Rahman, chief of Shahjahanpur Police Station.

BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury have also been accused in the cases, along with thousands of unnamed persons, filed with different police stations. 

According to the case documents obtained by The Business Standard, no information of direct involvement of top BNP leaders was mentioned.

Breakdown of cases

Sub-Inspector Masuk Mia filed a case with Paltan Model Thana bringing charges of murder under sections 147/148/149/186/332/333/302/353/427/109/34 of CrPc. 

He alleged that, "Mutual connivance led to rioting and vandalism, involving illegal gatherings, attacking the police with sticks and using force, causing severe injuries and ultimately leading to the murder of a police officer, constitutes a crime."

He accused that in response to a direct order and incitation of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshor Chandra Roy, Amir Khosru Mahmud Choudhury, Adv Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and Abdus Salam and others thousand of BNP men attacked police forces.

Sub-inspector Md Salah Uddin Quader filed a case with the Paltan Model Police Station on 29 October. 

He complained: "Mutual connivance led to rioting and vandalism, involving illegal gatherings."

He also mentioned that being equipped with bamboo sticks, attacking the police, employing force, and inflicting grave injuries through the detonation of cocktails, alongside offences involving terror and causing harm to individuals and public properties were all crimes.

He also listed some items as recovered from the relevant spots, including:

1. Samples of 200 (two hundred) pieces of bricks from numerous broken bricks 
2. 38 samples of bamboo sticks of various sizes, ranging from small to large 
3. Fragments from three exploded cocktails, each found in a tin can wrapped in black duct tape 
4. Two plastic-made slingshot  
5. 20 marbles of different colours

Sub-inspector Mofizur Rahman filed another case with Ramna Model Police Station. The accused were charged under sections 143/147/148/149/186/332/333/353/307/427/436/101 of the Penal Code. 

Sub-inspector  Mofizur accused that under the instructions of the top party leaders, activists and workers of BNP and its affiliated organisations, held illegal gatherings with sticks, iron rods, bricks and cocktail explosives in their hands and raised various anti-state slogans and created obstacles for the movement of the public and vehicles on the roads generating fear and panic among the public. 

SI Mofizur said after the police arrest of several BNP men, they admitted that the top-most leaders of their party had ordered them to take those actions.

But no names were directly linked to the accusations.