Not all officials participated in the protest and incidents that occurred at the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on March 5 spontaneously, Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, the chairman of the commission, said yesterday.

The regulator will keep this fact in mind when taking further steps in this regard, he said during a meeting with BSEC officials on its premises in the capital.

"…many did not participate spontaneously, the commission believes that," he was quoted as saying by a press release issued yesterday.

The chairman made the comments in his first meeting with the three commissioners since last week's standoff, the release added.

The incident, sparked by demands for the resignation of the commission's leadership, initially saw BSEC officials and employees lead a protest.

But things quickly took an untoward turn as some of the agitators confined the chairman and three commissioners to an office for four hours. They shouted threats, cut off power to the office room, and disabled the closed-circuit television (CCTV) system to avoid detection.

On Friday, a case pressing criminal charges was filed against 16 protesting officials.

However, 13 of them have already been granted bail.

After being granted bail, BSEC executive director Md Mahbubul Alam submitted a letter of resignation.

BSEC chairman Maqsood said the incidents were instigated by some "undisciplined" officials and termed their decision to confine the officials to an office as "hugely unexpected".

"This type of occurrence is a breach of administrative discipline and is a criminal offence.

It is massively detrimental for the stock market and eroded the image of the country abroad," he said.

He added that such an incident had never occurred in any regulatory body across the world.

"For the sake of national interests, a regulatory body cannot run with such indiscipline," he said, ordering the officials to carry out their tasks with full responsibility and discipline.

He expressed hope that the BSEC would continue to carry out its tasks at full pace with the help of all its officials.

Md Mohsin Chowdhury, Md Ali Akbar, and Farzana Lalarukh, commissioners of the BSEC, were present at the meeting.