Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has been shown arrested for the second time in a case filed over the 2015 arson attack on a bus in Chouddagram upazila of Cumilla that left eight people dead, local media reports said on Monday (Apr 9). Cumilla Senior Judicial Magistrate Judge Mustain Billah passed the order as Khaleda did not appear before it on Sunday. The court also fixed Apr 10 for the next hearing, said Khaleda’s lawyer advocate Kaimul Haque Rinku.
Showing her arrested in the case, the court on Mar 12 asked police to present Khaleda before it on Mar 28, 2018. However, Khaleda, who is now in Dhaka old central jail, did not attend the court for her illness, said the lawyer.
Eight people were killed and at least 20 others injured when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus at Jagmohanpur in Chouddagram during the BNP-led alliance's 'movement' on Feb 3, 2015. Two cases -- one under the Explosive Substances Act and another for murder -- were filed over the incident. The case was filed against 77 people, including Khaleda.
In Oct, 2017, a Cumilla court ordered the arrest of Khaleda and 45 other leaders and activists of her party in the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act over the arson attack.
