Mayhem in 2013: Hefajat leader Mufti Sharifullah remanded

A Dhaka court today placed Mufti Sharifullah, an assistant publicity secretary of Hefajat-e-Islam's central committee, on a one-day remand in a case filed under the Special Powers Act with Jatrabari Police Station on May 6, 2013.

Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Syeed passed the order after Ayan Mahmud, an inspector of Jatrabari Police Station and also the investigation officer of the case, produced him before his court with a seven-day remand prayer.

In today's remand prayer, the IO said Sharifullah is an FIR-named accused in the case and was directly involved with subversive activities during the Hefajat mayhem in May 2013 at Signboard area. As such, he needs to be remanded to know about the whereabouts of others who were responsible for the activities, the IO added.

No lawyers were present in the court to defend him. He claimed himself innocent and said he was not present at the place of occurrence during the incidents and was not involved with the mayhem.

A team of detective branch of police (Wari Division) arrested Mufti Sharifullah, from Mir Hazirbagh area of Jatrabari yesterday evening.

On May 5, 2013, thousands of members of Hefajat, a Qawmi madrasa-based Islamist organisation, clashed with law enforcers and ruling AL men, turning Motijheel and Paltan areas into a battlefield.

They set fire to hundreds of shops, vehicles and police outposts and looted stores, including those with Islamic books. Clashes also took place in different other districts in the following couple of days.

A total of 83 cases were filed in seven districts including in Dhaka, accusing 3,416 named and 84,796 unnamed people. Many of the accused were from Hefajat, Jamaat-e-Islam and the BNP.

Only one of the cases has been disposed of, in Bagerhat. All the accused were acquitted as neither the police nor the prosecutors could prove them guilty of the charges of attempted murder, arson and vandalism, officials said.

Police have pressed charges in 18, and gave final reports in two other cases. Investigations of the 62 have been stalled.