FROM PAGE 12

torture cell where political prisoners live in constant fear of death.”

BNP LEADER DIES IN JAIL CUSTODY

A local BNP leader, who was in Rajshahi Central Jail in connection with a sabotage case, died at the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital yesterday morning.

Md Monirul Islam, 52, was a ward-level assistant publicity affairs secretary of Kakonhat Municipality BNP under Godagari upazila, said Golam Mostafa Mamun, a member of the district BNP convening committee.

“He [Monirul] fell to the ground unconscious while bathing this [yesterday] morning. He was declared dead after being taken to the hospital around 10:30am,” Nijam Uddin, jailer of the Rajshahi Central Jail, told The Daily Star.

RMCH Director Brigadier General FM Shamim Ahmed said Monirul was brought dead to the hospital.

His body was handed over to his family in the afternoon after an autopsy, the jailer said.

Monirul landed in jail on November 7 after police arrested him in connection with a case filed under the Special Powers Act and Explosive Substances Act, he added.

Meanwhile, unidentified arsonists set fire to a Shilpa Bank staff bus parked on a road in Dhaka’s Motijheel around 3:30pm yesterday.

Locals doused the blaze before two fire engines reached the scene, said police.

Another staff bus of Delta Life Insurance was by torched by arsonists in front of the Rajdhani Super Market in the city’s Tikatuli around 10:00pm.

On information, two fire engines rushed to the scene and doused the blaze, said fire service sources.

A bus of Midline Paribahan was set alight by arsonists in the city’s Mohammadpur around 8:30pm. Firefighters of two fire engines rushed to the scene but found the fire already put out by locals, said the sources.

Two suspects were detained near the scene, said HM Azimul Haque, deputy commissioner of (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Police claimed that the detainees were activists of Jubo Dal, the youth wing of the BNP.

In Ashulia of Savar, a Dhaka-bound bus of Itihas Paribahan was set alight by arsonists on Nabinagar-Chandra highway in the evening.

Arsonists travelling in guise of passengers set the bus on fire when it reached Kabirpur, said Shahadat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Nawjor Highway Police Station.

On Information, two fire engines rushed to the scene and doused the blaze.

Rizvi in the briefing yesterday said law enforcers arrested at least 20,895 BNP leaders and activists in 592 cases filed across the country from October 28 till yesterday afternoon.

The BNP also claimed that 110 party leaders and activists were detained and five cases were filed against 436 named and many unidentified party activists in 24 hours preceding yesterday evening.

Our Rajshahi staff correspondent and Savar correspondent also contributed to this report.