Former Awami League MP Sultan Mansur arrested

A court in Dhaka has ordered the arrest of former Moulvibazar-2 MP and former central president of the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed, 78, in a case filed over the alleged torture and attempted murder of BNP activist Mushfiqul Rahman Abir, 28.

The case relates to an attack and shooting surrounding a BNP rally in Nayapaltan in the capital in 2022.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Joshita Islam passed the order on Wednesday (October 14) following an application from the investigation officer.

Public prosecutor Harun-or-Rashid confirmed the development.

Earlier, the case's investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Md Abu Saleh of Paltan Model Police Station, produced Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed before the court and sought an order to show him arrested in the case.

Prosecutors argued in favour of the application, while lawyers for the accused opposed it. After hearing both sides, the court ordered that Mansur be shown arrested in the case.

According to the case complaint, on December 10, 2022, Abir was returning home after campaigning in the Kalabagan area ahead of the BNP's Dhaka divisional rally when the accused allegedly abducted him by force and detained him at a tannery warehouse.

He was allegedly physically tortured there in an attempt to kill him, and a ransom was collected from his family, the complaint states.

Later that day, an attack and shooting took place during the BNP rally in front of the party's office in Nayapaltan. The complaint alleges that the accused and others acted together, directly firing tear gas and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Many party leaders, activists and members of the public were reportedly shot and fell on the streets. Abir was also wounded by gunfire, according to the complaint.

Abir subsequently filed the case himself, naming 98 people in the first information report (FIR) and listing another 100 to 200 unidentified individuals. Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed is among the named accused in the case.