Shalla’s attack was planned and directed by an independent member: PBI

The Bureau of Investigation (PBI) has stated that between 1,500 and 1,500 people, under the plan and leadership of the member of the Parishad Union, Shahidul Islam Swadhin, 50, attacked and looted houses of the Hindu community in the town of Shalla upazila in Noagaon, in Sunamganj that day.

PBI Sylhet Police Superintendent Mohammad Khaled Uz Zaman made the demand at a press conference on Saturday morning after the arrest of Shahidul Islam Swadhin, the main defendant in the case, two days after the attack.

Swadhin was arrested in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila on Friday night. He is a member of the Saramangal Union Parishad (UP) of Dirai Upazila. Although the locals mentioned the independent member as the leader of the Juba League, the organization’s district committee denied it.

At the press conference, the PBI police superintendent said: “The number one defendant in the attack is Shahidul Islam alias Swadhin, a member of the union. Under his leadership, 1,400 to 1,500 people planned to attack the area. This we know and we are sure. And then we realized his position.

‘A special team from Sylhet PBI carried out a special operation at the Kulaura police station in the Moulvibazar district. I was able to arrest him from the Bamanbazar Union horse-drawn area in Kulaura. His father Haji Keramat Ali, Nachni people, ‘added the Police Superintendent.

According to police and local sources, the central leaders of Hifazat-e-Islam spoke in front of thousands of people at Shane Risalat’s conference in Sunamganj’s Dirai upazila last Monday. It is claimed that Jhumon Das Apon from Noapara village in the Habibpur junction of Shalla upazila posted an offensive post on his Facebook about Maulana Mamunul Haque. At one point, people found Jhumon and turned him over to police on Tuesday night. Even after that, people did not calm down and surrounded the village of Noapara with clubs and local weapons since last Wednesday morning. It was later alleged that the house was vandalized and ransacked.

Habibpur UP President Vivekananda Majumder Bakul presented the first case Thursday night and named 50 people. The main defendant was Shahidul Islam, a member of Dirai’s Sarmangal UP. Apart from this, the police presented another case charging another 1,500 unidentified people. Shalla (SI) Police Deputy Inspector Abdul Karim has become the plaintiff in the case brought by the police.

Meanwhile, police arrested 22 people in a raid on Friday. When they were presented in court last night, the court denied them bail and ordered that they be sent to jail. So far 30 people have been arrested, including Shahidul.