Members of the joint forces detained at least 30 people in overnight drives across Chattogram city over the murder of a lawyer during a clash between the followers of former ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, police, and lawyers on Tuesday.
Kazi Tarek Aziz, additional deputy commissioner (public relations) of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) said identities of the detainees were being verified.
The clash that left at least 10 people injured began shortly before midday when a court sent Chinmoy to jail, rejecting his bail plea in a sedition case.
Around 7:30pm, miscreants also set fire to houses in Sebak Colony, near Rangam Convention Centre Lane, adjacent to the Chattogram Court Building, last evening.The colony is predominantly inhabited by conservation workers of Chattogram City Corporation, according to sources.
However, the firefighters' efforts to put out the blaze were initially hindered by agitators near the Laldighi area, said Md Ali, senior station officer of Nandan Kanan Fire Service.
With the assistance of law enforcement, three firefighting units managed to control the blaze by 9:30pm.
The fire gutted two corrugated tin-roofed houses and two shops. No casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Pahartali police arrested seven leaders and activists of the Awami League from the Abul Biri Factory area in Chattogram.
"Using the unrest in the city and court building issues as an opportunity, they attempted to organise a procession, which police foiled," said Babul Azad, officer-in-charge of Pahartali Police Station.
The arrestees are union and upazila-level leaders from Mirsharai upazila. They had been in hiding since the Awami League government was ousted on August 5, the OC further said.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Chattogram District Bar Association Md. Nazim Uddin said that Saiful Islam's autopsy was completed on Wednesday morning.
His namaz-e-janaza will take place at 10 am at the court premises, followed by a second prayer at 11 am at the Jamiatul Falah National Mosque grounds. The final prayer will be held after Asr at his family home in Lohagara.
The Chattogram District Bar Association called for a boycott of the court on Wednesday demanding that the killers of the lawyer be arrested.
