By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka

Police yesterday implicated Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior vice-president Tarique Rahman and  31 others over the January 21 arson of a bus in Joydebpur in Gazipur district on the northern outskirts of the capital.
In the chargesheet submitted yesterday, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique, his personal assistant Lutfor Rahman Badal and son of ousted Gazipur mayor MA Mannan, Manjurul Ahsan Rony, have been blamed of masterminding the attack.
The investigation officer, Joydebpur police sub-inspector (SI) Enamul Haque, submitted the chargesheet. Gazipur superintendent of police Mohammad Harun Ur Rashid later briefed journalists about the case. He said BNP activists doused a bus with kerosene and petrol and set it alight at Tarique Zia Intersection in Khashpara area of Gazipur’s Manipur on January 21 causing losses amounting to  800,000 taka (US$10,000).
Joydebpur police SI Dilip Chandra Sarkar filed a case accusing 50 people over the incident.
The first investigation officer of the case, Rafiqul Islam, made a number of arrests. The case was then handed to Enamul Haque.
In the chargesheet, Haque claimed that Tarique conspired  with Badal and Rony in his London flat and planned violence around the country before and after the January 2014 parliamentary polls.
It says the three asked BNP activists to unleash a violent campaign of vandalism, firebombing of vehicles and killing of passengers, on the major roads in the country’s major business district.
The chargesheet also claimed Tarique promised activists monetary rewards for the violent actions.
Rashid said they have arrested 11 over the case. “Initially, the investigation officer accused 32 under the special act of 1974.”
The 20-party opposition coalition, led by the BNP, organised strikes and blockade for three months in early 2015.
More than 150 people died, mostly of severe burns suffered in firebombings.
Tarique’s mother BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been implicated in a number of cases for ordering these attacks.
Tarique has been living in the UK for the last seven years. He is wanted in a number of cases in Bangladesh and is absconding.