Police yesterday pressed attempted murder charges against two expelled Chhatra League leaders in a case filed over brandishing firearms during a hawker eviction drive in Dhaka's Gulistan in October 2016.

The leaders are BCL Dhaka city south former general secretary Md Sabbir Hossain and Wari thana unit former general secretary Md Ashiqur Rahman.

Sub-inspector of Shahbagh police Md Ekramul Islam, also investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka against the two BCL leaders.

After getting the probe report, Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Nabi scrutinised the charge sheet and accepted it. The court also granted them permanent bail after they surrendered before it seeking bail in the case. They were earlier granted bail till submission of the probe report.

On October 27, 2016, several Bangla dailies published photographs showing Sabbir and Ashiqur brandishing firearms during a clash between hawkers and an eviction team of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

The clash broke out after the DSCC team launched the drive to remove illegal makeshift shops from the pavements and the underpass market area in Gulistan. The two were seen shooting during the clash between DSCC staff and hawkers that left 10 people, including two corporation employees, injured.

Three days later, SI Abdul Mannan of Shahbagh police filed the case against the two and 50 to 60 unnamed people.

Following the case, the two who were expelled from the party, surrendered before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Md Khurshid Alam and secured bail on November 17, 2016 on grounds that the charges brought against them were not specific.

The bail triggered a mixed reaction among the people and litigants and different national dailies published a series of reports on it.

Later on December 4 that year their bail was cancelled, and the court issued arrest warrants against them as they remained absent that day.

Following the arrest warrant, the BCL leaders surrendered before another court on February 9, 2017 and sought bail in the case. But the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sarafuzzaman Ansari rejected their bail petition and sent them to jail. 

Soon after order for sending them into custody, the IO submitted a seven-day remand prayer for quizzing them about the incident. But on February 12 the same year, another Dhaka court rejected their remand prayer and they got bail on February 16.