Galib put on 10-day remand
Cops to probe his links to anti-state cases
Our Correspondents, Gaibandha and Rajshahi
A Gaibandha court yesterday put Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh (Ahab) chief Asadullah Al-Galib on a 10-day police remand in connection with two bomb blasts, while a Rajshahi court gave police 15 days to investigate his link with anti-state activities after rejecting bail prayers for him and his accomplices.IN GAIBANDHA
In Gaibandha, Galib was produced before a magistrate court in the morning. The court sent him back to jail after six minutes amid tight security, approving the 10-day remand sought by Sub-Inspector Abdul Wadud, who is the investigation officer (IO) of the Mohimaganj Brac office bomb blast case. Seven lawyers yesterday prayed for Galib's bail. But the court refused to hear the bail petition and set the date of hearing on March 10. Gaibandha police in a recent drive arrested 15 suspected activists of the recently band Islamist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujaheedin. During interrogation, the arrestees named Galib as their central leader. Sources said Gaibandha police might place Galib under the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) after quizzing him in custody. IN RAJSHAHI
Before Rajshahi Metropolitan Magistrate Fazlul Karim Chowdhury yesterday, the court prosecutor said Galib and three of his top associates needed to be interrogated in other districts of the country over their suspected involvement in seven anti-state cases. The defence lawyers led by Shah Newaz termed the four arrestees Islamic scholars and prayed for their bail, which the court rejected. Shah Mokhdum police in Rajshahi arrested Galib and his associates Abdus Samad Salafi, Nurul Islam and ASM Azizullah on February 23 under Section 54 of CrPC. Meanwhile, investigators in Natore have been hunting Natore central Ahab mosque imam and Natore Ahab General Secretary Golam Azam suspecting him to be a trainer of militants. Sources among Natore investigators yesterday told The Daily Star that Golam Azam, who hails from Holudia village in Gaibandha district, was known as Khabbad Hussain to 12 militants held in Natore last month and went into hiding since the arrest of Galib. Azam accumulated a huge property after he had joined Ahab and built some 100 Ahab mosques in Natore, Bogra, Gaibandha, Naogaon and Pabna districts with funds from the Kuwait-based organisation Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, sources said. Azam has been conducting militant training at the mosques posing for Khabbad Hussain from Chapainawabganj. He also developed enmity with at least a dozen former Ahab members in Natore following dispute over mingling militancy with religion, sources said.
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