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Speaking to The Daily Star last night, Kanai Lal Sarkar, additional deputy commissioner of Khulna Metropolitan Police, said the two were detained from their homes for interrogation.

Legal actions would be taken against them after the interrogation, added Kanai Lal, also the spokesperson of KMP.

Md Jewel, son of Nur, said some unidentified people went to their home in Khulna city’s Khalishpur area around 3:30am on Sunday.

Introducing themselves as firefighters, they asked the residents of the house to come out as “there was a fire”, Jewel told The Daily Star.

As a family member opened the door, the unidentified people caught Nur and left the home immediately, said the detainee’s son.

Waliar’s son Naeem Sheikh said nine people went to their home in Mashiyali area under Khanjahan Ali Police Station around 2:30am on Sunday and asked the residents to open the door.

Naeem said some of them were carrying rifles and wireless radios. As a family member opened the door, they caught Waliar and said they would take him to a jute mills. They left the place soon.

Meanwhile, Janardan Dutta Nantu, coordinator of Khulna district Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, and Abdul Karim, general secretary of Khulna district Socialist Workers Front, have condemned the “arrest” of the two labour leaders and demanded their immediate release.

In a statement issued yesterday, they said the two leaders actively took part in the recent workers’ movement demanding withdrawal of the government’s decision to close 25 state-owned jute mills.

The two have been arrested in the dark of night to suppress the movement, the statement added.

Murad Hossain, joint convener of Bangladesh State Jute Mills CBA-NonCBA Sangram Parishad, said he heard that some temporary workers arranged secret meetings with some left-leaning parties in Khalishpur.

“I have heard that some of the workers have been arrested. They are not leaders of our organisation. I don’t know who picked them up and why they were arrested,” he added.