Abdul Hamid Paban, son of BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain, hired two young men to explode crackers in front of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office on February 23, revealed Paban's friend arrested in connection with the blasts.
Detective police arrested Golam Sabbir alias Shovon on Saturday night from his Kalabagan residence, and seized his red car that had fled the blast scene right after the incident. Police also seized Paban's car from the same place.
Earlier, police arrested Pradip Saha, secretary of Sonaimuri upazila BNP backed Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), right after the blasts, from an alley next to the scene while he was speeding away on a motorbike, said police detectives.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque, at a media briefing yesterday, said, "Both Pradip and Shovon confessed that Paban had hired two other young men to carry out a mock bomb attack on himself, in an effort to draw BNP high-ups' sympathetic attention." The whole charade was aimed at consolidating his own position in the party against competing rivals, added the DMP commissioner.
Arrested Shovon told reporters in the Detective Branch office on Minto Road of the capital that Paban has been trying to grab the post of organising secretary of BNP Dhaka City unit committee, which is scheduled to be formed soon.
The DMP commissioner said police did not arrest Paban right after the blasts due to a lack of sufficient incriminating evidence, but now they are trying to arrest him and the cohorts.
Witnesses said in the immediate aftermath of the blasts Paban pretended to be injured in front of reporters in United Hospital.
The DMP commissioner said in the medical report the doctors however mentioned that Paban had not suffered any external injury, rather he had received treatment for chest pain.
Shovon, who owns an electronic goods shop in Shyamoli of the capital, said Paban with Rony, a leader of Pallabi JCD unit, tried to stage a mock bomb attack at the same spot on February 22 as well, but failed.
So the following day Paban drove to Shovon's house in Kalabagan, parked his own car there, and went to the BNP chairperson's office in Gulshan with Shovon in the latter's car.
After they reached the office, Paban got off the car and went to the gate, while Shovon waited in the car in front of the office.
Before getting off the car Paban asked Shovon to give two of his young associates a ride, as they might be in danger of being attacked by their rivals, Shovon added.
Following the blasts, the two young men rushed to Shovon's car and got in identifying them as Paban's men, and then Shovon dropped the two at Bijoy Sarani on the way back to his house, Shovon claimed.
He said, "Paban took advantage of me, using our friendship, and used my car."
He also said he overheard Paban and Rony, the night before the incident, talking about hiring two young men for exploding crackers in front of the BNP chairperson's office.
Shovon also said as he felt insecure in front of the office on the February 23 night, he called his friend Faruque, an ex-president of Chatkhil upazila JCD, to come to the spot.
Faruque along with Pradip on a motorbike reached the spot from Motijheel, Shovon said adding that Faruque was also in his car on the way back to his house after the blasts.
Detective police said Paban was arrested earlier as well, in connection with a car jacking case during the last BNP-led four-party alliance government, and was also accused in several other cases.
Meanwhile, BNP's Senior Joint Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday brushed aside the allegation that the party secretary general's son and his friend were involved in the blasts.
"We blame each other if anything happens, it is nothing but a part of our political culture," he told reporters in the party's central office in Nayapaltan of the capital.
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