Dhaka, Oct 6 (IANS) A Bangladeshi court on Tuesday sent former Awami League lawmaker Naimuzzaman Bhuiyan to jail in connection with a case involving the alleged disappearance and killing of a rickshaw puller during the July 2024 demonstrations, according to local media reports

Acting on the tip-off, police carried out a raid at his Kazipara residence in Panchagarh Sadar upazila and arrested Naimuzzaman on Tuesday morning, Inspector (Investigation) Ashish Kumar Shil of Panchagarh Sadar Police Station said.

He was subsequently produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court, where Judge Mosharraf Hossain ordered that the Awami League leader be sent to jail.

Citing court and police sources, Bangladesh's leading newspaper The Daily Star reported that rickshaw puller Al Amin's father, Md Manu, filed the case with Panchagarh Sadar Police Station on November 10, 2024.

Former railways minister and former Panchagarh-2 MP Nurul Islam, Naimuzzaman and 17 others were named as accused, while 150 unidentified people were also implicated in the case.

According to police, Naimuzzaman faces 12 cases, including one over the alleged disappearance and killing of Al Amin and others related to vandalism and arson at a BNP office, Bangladeshi media outlet Views Bangladesh reported.

The latest arrest comes against the backdrop of an escalating crackdown on Awami League leaders and activists that began during the period of the previous Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and has persisted under the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration.

Earlier in August, as many as 53 leaders and activists of the Awami League party and its affiliated organisations were arrested by Bangladesh police, local media reported.

According to a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) press release, the individuals were arrested from a building in the Bashundhara residential area of Dhaka.

Citing Bhatara Police Station in the capital, the DMP said that the Awami League leaders and activists had gathered to organise a preparatory meeting and a flash march linked to the August 15 mourning day.

Police from Bhatara Police Station subsequently carried out a drive and took 53 people into custody, Bangladesh's leading Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported.

Following the arrests, Bangladesh's Awami League strongly condemned the move, saying it demonstrated that there was now little room left in the country for democratic rights or the freedom to observe religious or national occasions.

--IANS

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