Around 300 people, including staff members of Sonali Life Insurance, staged a demonstration in front of the office of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) for a third time today.

The demands were largely the same as in August 11 and August 13 – resignation of IDRA Chairman Mohammad Jainul Bari over corruption allegations.

An IDRA official told The Daily Star that protesters had stormed the office and confined the chairman to his room until at least 11pm last night.

"We were confined to our office for hours and couldn't work," the official added.

Chanting slogans on the IDRA premises, the protesters also demanded the withdrawal of an administrator that was appointed by the IDRA to improve Sonali Life's condition.

Another official of the IDRA said all vehicles that had left since the afternoon with officials and employees were checked to ensure that the chairman cannot leave the office.

Around evening, after the lift of the IDRA building was shut down, 20-25 individuals came up the stairs and vandalised the main gate of the regulator's office, the official said.

The volatile situation forced the IDRA administration to call in the army, the official ‍added.

IDRA Chairman Bari said, "The employees of Sonali Life vandalised the main gate of the IDRA office. One of our officials and a security guard were injured. Initially, it was reported that the guard had suffered a head injury."

Mohammad Rabiul Hassan Rasel, a manager of Sonali Life, said, "After entering the regulator's office, some of their officials hit us. As a result, some of our employees were injured."

He could not provide a clear explanation for the vandalism that had occurred.

In a press release yesterday, Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) said some field-level employees of "a life insurance company" had been trying to spoil the working environment of the IDRA to destabilise the insurance sector.

"This is not desirable at all. The BIA has called on field-level employees to refrain from such programmes," it said.

Although the names of all life insurance companies are being mentioned in the sit-in programme, employees from only one life insurance company have been identified, it added.

"The BIA strongly condemns the intentional use of the names of all the insurance companies and urges those concerned to refrain from such activities in the future," it mentioned.

On August 19, Sonali Life Insurance, IDRA and the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance held a meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat.

After the meeting, former FID Secretary Abdur Rahman Khan said the court would decide whether to change Sonali Life's administrator.