Arrested two BNP men name Tuku as mastermind: Police

FE Team | Published: December 25, 2023 22:04:49

Two persons arrested on charges of the derailment of a train in Gazipur on December 13 have said the sabotage was plotted by Jubo Dal President Sultan Salauddin Tuku, report agencies.
Additional Police Commissioner of DMP's Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), M Asaduzzaman, told this while speaking at a press conference organised by DMP Media and Public Relations Department on Monday.
The arrestees are former Chhatra Dal vice president and current Juba Dal leader M Ekhtiar Rahman Kabir (43) and President of Metropolitan Chhatra Dal Imon Hossain (19).
The Special Action Group of CTTC arrested them in a drive in the capital's Shanirakhra vegetable market area on Sunday evening.
"During the preliminary interrogation, they have confessed that Tuku contacted Kabir and said there was a pressure from the higher levels of the party to carry out major destructive acts. They were paid a large sum of money for doing the job," he said.
"Tuku planned the sabotage to spread fear among people and disrupt the railway movement knowing that commoners use rail as a safe mode of transportation during the strikees and blockades. His main intention was to cause massive loss of life on the railways," the CTTC official added.
"To implement the plan, Kabir held a meeting with Toha, the former convener of Azimuddin Government College Chhatra Dal of Gazipur and Masum, the organising secretary of Gazipur Mahanagar Chhatra Dal," he said.
The CCTC official also said the arrested Kabir has admitted to his involvement with setting more than 10 buses on fire in various areas including Jatrabari, Demra, New Market and Old Dhaka since October 28.
"Necessary legal proceeding against them in this regard is underway," he said.
A 20-foot stretch of rail track was uprooted, leading to the derailment of the Dhaka-bound Mohanganj Express in Gazipur on December 13, killing one person and injuring several others.
Besides, the name of Ikhtiyar Rahman Kabir has also come up in the confessional statement of Md. Jamal Hossain, who was arrested while trying to set fire to a bus in Bangshal police station area.