Ex-Bangladesh foreign min. Dipu Moni arrested for attack on BNP leader home

Dipu Moni, a former foreign and social welfare minister in ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party, was arrested on Monday for allegedly attacking the home of a senior BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) leader, a senior police official said.

Mohammad Rabiul Hossain Bhuiyan, joint commissioner (north) of the detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, confirmed the arrest of Moni (58) from Dhaka, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

"We are now taking her to the DB office on Minto Road. There is a case against her in Chandpur. She may be shown arrested in that case," another detective branch official, requesting anonymity, was quoted as saying by the media.

On 15 August, a case was filed against the former minister and her brother J.R. Wadud Tipu in Chandpur for attacking the residence of BNP district president Sheikh Farid Ahmed Manik.

Manik, who was abroad for medical treatment during the attack on 18 July, claimed it was carried out over political issues.

According to the case statement, armed individuals vandalised, looted, and set fire to Manik's house. Besides, 510 known and 1,000-1,200 unnamed people were accused in the case, which was filed on Thursday following a complaint lodged by A. Razzak Hawlader, joint convener of Chandpur Municipal Jubo Dal, said the official.

Several cases have been filed against ousted prime minister Hasina, who resigned from the post of prime minister on 5 August and escaped to India. Her Awami League party members were the subject of public outrage following unprecedented anti-government student-led protests.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protests by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.