A Dhaka court on Saturday placed BNP Joint Secretary General Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie on a seven-day remand in connection with the vandalism and arson attack on the Bangladesh Television (BTV) building in Dhaka’ s Rampura area.
The investigating officer of the case appealed for a ten-day remand for a thorough investigation after producing him before the court.
On July 18, the BTV building was attacked. The next day, a case was filed with the Rampura Police Station by Mahfuza Akhtar, general manager of BTV's Dhaka Centre.
Annie was arrested on July 25 evening from the Elephant Road area of the capital.
According to the case statement, on July 18, around 11:30 am, during the complete shutdown programme under the banner of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, students gathered on the road in front of the Rampura Traffic Police Box and BTV building. The police eventually dispersed them.
Following this, with active participations from top BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, an unidentified mob of three to four thousand people gathered there illegally, chanting anti-government slogans. BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami activists entered the BTV building armed with sticks and weapons, conducted vandalism and set fire to various parts of the BTV building.The total estimated damage amounted to Tk 50 crore.
