Dhaka, UNB – Nearly 21 hours after he was picked up by plainclothes lawmen from a house at Banani early Tuesday, Rabid Action Battalion (Rab) confirmed the arrest of Nagarik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna and handed him over to Gulshan Police Station. “Rab arrested Mahmudur Rahman Manna and handed him over to Gulshan police,” director media and legal wing of Rab headquarters commander Mufti Mahmud Khan told UNB. Hearing the news of his arrest, Manna’s family members rushed to the police station. However, Gulshan police sent him to the Detective Brach (DB) headquarters. “Manna has already been taken to DB headquarters,” assistant police commissioner (Gulshan zone) Nure Alam told UNB around 1:15am. He said the elite force Rab handed Manna over to their police station around 12:20am. A Gulshan thana police officer requesting anonymity said sub-inspector Sohel Rana of the police station filed a case under section 131 of the Penal Code against Manna and an unidentified person with their police station. However, the official of the law enforcement agencies declined to make any comment about where Manna was before he was handed over to police. Earlier in the day, Manna’s wife, Meher Nigar, told the media that a group of plainclothes men introducing themselves as detectives picked up the Nagorik Oikya convener from one of his relatives’ house at Banani in the city in the early hours. But, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Banani police satiation and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) denied detaining Manna, whose two audio clips containing his telephone conversation with BNP vice chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka and with another unidentified person have recently got leaked. According to an audio clip, Manna reportedly provoked BNP vice chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka to unleash a bloody clash on the Dhaka University campus. Meanwhile, a general diary (GD) was lodged with a police station in the city on Tuesday in connection with the ‘picking-up’ of Manna by ‘plainclothes police’. Manna’s sister-in-law Begum Sultana filed the GD with Banani Police Station at noon, said sub-inspector Farida Parvin, duty officer at the police station. In the GD, Sultana mentioned that plainclothes men pretending to be members of the Detective Branch of police picked Manna up from her Banani house around 3:30am on Tuesday. Since then, the Nagorik Oikya leader had remained missing as law enforcement agencies denied arresting him.
