A pro-BNP lawyer suffered a massive heart attack in police custody and was rushed to a city hospital hours after police picked him up from Segunbagicha area early yesterday.
The arrestee MU Ahmed is one of accused in a case filed on charge of assaulting police personnel and preventing them from discharging their duties at the Supreme Court premises on August 2, said police.
A joint team of Detective Branch (DB) of police and Shahbagh Police Station arrested Ahmed around 2:30am from an apartment on the third floor of a six-storey building.
Talking to The Daily Star the ailing lawyer's wife, Selina Begum claimed her husband was quite well when police arrested him.
But hours later she came to know that Ahmed has been hospitalised. She demanded an investigation into how her husband ended up seriously ill in police custody.
Mohammad Jamal, a security guard of the building, said police reached there around 1:30am and picked up Ahmed within one hour after searching all the 19 apartments of the building. The lawyer lives in a flat on the fourth floor.
Ahmed was rushed to National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) after he fell sick at the DB office around 4:30am, said Md Masudur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Director of NICVD Prof Abdullah Al Shafi Majumder noted the detainee suffered a massive heart attack.
A 10-member medical board has been formed to ensure his proper treatment, added the director.
The High Court earlier on Wednesday rejected bail prayers of MU Ahmed and 10 other pro-BNP-Jamaat lawyers in the police assault case.
Shahbagh police filed the case and arrested three accused lawyers earlier. The arrestees are Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papia, Abu Bakar Siddique and Gazi Towhidul Islam.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday rejected a 10-day remand prayer of police to interrogate the trio in the case, two hours after they got bail in another case filed for vandalising a vehicle.
In a latest development, the three lawyers were shown arrested yesterday in another case filed with Shahbagh Police Station for torching a vehicle in the city's Kataban area on June 4.
DB Sub-Inspector Entaz Ali, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted a 10-day remand prayer for each of them. The hearing on the remand prayers will be held on August 16.
KHALEDA CONDEMNS 'TORTURE' ON AHMED
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia last night condemned the alleged custodial torture on lawyer MU Ahmed, who is now undergoing treatment at the NICVD under police custody.
The leader of the opposition warned the government of bearing all the responsibilities if the ailing lawyer's condition deteriorates, said a release.
"The government is suppressing the people's democratic rights in a brutal way. The law and order is getting worse for using Rapid Action Battalion and police as party wings," she complained.
Khaleda also alleged there is no security of lives of common people, artists, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists in the country.
Meanwhile, the BNP chief visited the NICVD last evening and enquired doctors about Ahmed's health condition.
Source : The Daily Star
