A Kishoreganj court has denied bail plea of labour leader Mamun Mia, who was arrested on charge of extortion. Judicial Magistrate Shahidul Islam Chowdhury denied his bail and sent him to jail on Thursday (December 31).
Police arrested Mamun Mia, Office Secretary of the District Road Transport Workers' Union, on Wednesday night.
Transport workers stopped buses in protest of the arrest of Mamun Mia and demanded his immediate release. As a result, all routes from Gaital Inter-District Bus Terminal to including the capital Dhaka, were closed from Thursday morning. Ordinary passengers on the route suffered due to the sudden stoppage of buses. The bus service resumed at about 3:00 pm.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) Kishoreganj Model Police Station Abu Bakar Siddique said a driver named Kamal Mia had filed a case against several people, including labour leader Mamun Mia, for extorting tolls from CNG-powered auto rickshaw drivers plying on different routes in front of the bus stand. Mamun Mia was arrested in connection with the case.
However, Kishoreganj District Road Transport Workers Union President Kaiser Ahmed Qayyum denied the allegations, saying that although there were no rules in front of the bus stand, a case was filed against them for illegally blocking CNG-powered auto rickshaws on various inter-district routes including Gazipur, Mymensingh and Netrokona. We stopped the bus service demanding the withdrawal of the case and the release of the detained labour leader.