Staff Reporter : Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, during interrogation on the fourth day of his 10-day remand, admitted to the detectives that he made the phone calls to Sadek Hossain Khoka to seek BNP’s support in Dhaka City Corporation polls. A four-member team, specialised in high-tech communication equipments, has been interrogating the former Awami League leader in the capital’s DB headquarters. “I had a plan to contest Dhaka City Corporation (North) polls. I was afraid that BNP may not participate in the polls. I phoned him [Khoka] to win support of BNP. I had no idea that the conversation through viver could be recorded. I talked something on the movement of BNP-led 20-party alliance in a bid to get that favour,” Manna said at a stage of interrogation by the DB. Official sources said the investigators are now analysing cell phone details and voice call records of Manna to identify the people he has been in communication with. The detectives have also collected Call Detail Record [CDR] of the last three months to get complete data and idea of Manna’s accompanies, and from which political party they belonged to. Manna was placed on a 10-day remand in a case filed with Gulshan thana for instigating armed forces to revolt. “We are just interrogating Manna and it is still at the preliminary stage. We will be able to expose details of the plot once we get information and complete analysis,” Monirul Islam, Joint Commissioner of Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division, said. A DB official quoted Manna as saying that Manna had also a plan to join BNP and participate in next national election from his home district Bogra. Meanwhile, four days have passed but law enforcers are yet to give a formal version regarding Manna’s arrest and his whereabouts during the 20 hours since he was picked up by some people who had identified themselves as detectives. A case was filed with Gulshan police for his alleged involvement in inciting the army to grab power. But the detectives also could not give the details whether Manna plotted to unseat the government while talking to another unnamed Bangladeshi expatriate in Australia through viber.
