Ex-state minister Arafat arrested in Dhaka

C T Online Desk: A case was filed against Arafat on 20 August in connection with the death of a vegetable seller in Rangpur.

Former state minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat was arrested from Dhaka’s Gulshan area on Tuesday.

A case was filed against Arafat on 20 August in connection with the death of a vegetable seller in Rangpur during the recent student movement.

Arafat, as an Awami League candidate, won the 12th Parliament election from Dhaka-17 seat and later, took oath as state minister for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country on 5 August in the face of a massive student-people mass upsurge and since then Arafat has been in hiding.

Later on 12 August, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), a central organisation for the prevention of money laundering and financing of terrorism, asked banks to freeze accounts of Arafat and his wife Sharmin Mustari.