Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
The leaving of the hospital and the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office by BNP central leaders, skipping the eyes of lawenforcers has created an uproar among the intelligence agencies. Questions have been raised from several quarters as to how it was possible to deceive the eyes of the law enforcers despite their vigil presence? BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi managed to leave the city’s Apollo Hospital, while three former BNP woman MPs managed to leave BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office early hours on Wednesday. The woman leaders left the office keeping ‘besieged and sick’ Khaleda Zia in the office.
Rizvi, who was picked up by plainclothes police from the party’s Nayapaltan central office on Saturday and then admitted to the Apollo Hospital allegedly against his will, left the hospital around 3:30 am apparently to avert arrest. He managed to dodge everyone before leaving the hospital. Later, he went to his Gulshan home.
The authorities of the Apollo Hospital claimed that Rizvi left the hospital without clearing the dues of the hospital. Shah Alam, security executive at the hospital, filed the general diary (GD) with Bhatara Police Station in the morning in this regard. The GD said that around 3:40 am, a nurse went to check up on Rizvi and found him gone. He left the hospital without notice.
However, a representative of Rizvi in the afternoon cleared all the dues for treatment and four-day stay in the hospital. Mofizul Islam, duty manager at the hospital, admitted the matter alleging that Rizvi had left the hospital without clearing the dues. According to him, Rizvi was being kept in a deluxe single cabin, fed the hospital’s food and taken through some laboratory tests and blood tests during a stay in the hospital.
Around 12 hours of the secret departure, Rizvi admitted that he managed to leave the hospital secretly executing his own political strategy. He made the assertion while addressing journalists at his residence in the afternoon. He, however, said that the blockade of highways, railways and waterways would continue until further notice.
Meanwhile, Rizvi’s secret departure raised questions. Police claimed that they did not pick up the BNP leader. Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman said that they did not arrest him. Rizvi was sick and that is why the police took him to the hospital, he added.
However, it was reported that Rizvi was picked up by police and he was under custody in the Apollo Hospital. On the other hand, the question has been raised that if the BNP leader is arrested, why he paid his dues? Why he left the hospital secretly? Whatever he did to avert arrest or stage drama?
City Awami League general secretary and Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya said that that Rizvi escaped from the hospital to avert arrest.
A medical team arrived at the BNP’s central office on Saturday night at the request of Rizvi to examine him. After a primary medical check-up, the team said that the BNP leader was suffering from gastrological problem and nausea, and he needs a complete bed rest for a few days. Minutes after the team left the BNP office, the detectives entered into the office and took the BNP leader to hospital in an ambulance.
Meanwhile, Syeda Ashifa Ashrafi Papia, a former BNP MP, managed to leave the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office after deceiving the eyes of the law enforcers. Besides Papia, two others BNP women leaders Rehana Akter Ranu and Nilufar Yeasmin Chowdhury Moni, who were also former BNP woman MPs, also managed to leave the office following Papias’ way. Papia, Ranu and Moni were staying with Khaleda Zia who was spending the fourth day of confinement in her office.
Sources said that the three woman leaders left the office successfully skipped the eyes of the law enforcers. But the sources could not clear that how they deceived the law enforcers’ eyes. “They may leave the office convincing the law enforcers who were on duty around the Gulshan office,” said some people.
The question has also been raised that why the woman BNP leaders left the office keeping their party chief alone in confinement when the BNP is claiming that Khaleda Zia is ill.
