Investigation into Prothom Alo building attack unfinished after ten and a half months, all 39 arrested out on bail

Ten and a half months after the attack, vandalism, looting and arson at the Prothom Alo building, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has still not finished investigating the case. The identities of the attack's planners and coordinators have not yet been confirmed, and no charge sheet has been submitted.

Yet last February, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed had directed that the investigation be completed and a charge sheet submitted within two months. Eight months have passed since that instruction, but the investigation is still not finished.

A total of 39 people were arrested at different times in this case. All of them are now out on bail. The officer supervising the investigation says he sees no prospect of identifying new accused.

Investigation officials said that after the attack, vandalism and arson at the Prothom Alo building in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar at midnight on December 18 last year, police arrested 25 people in the first eight days. Another 14 were arrested later. After one more person was shown arrested last July, no one else has been arrested.

After taking charge of the investigation, DB officials had said they would examine the role of instigators and planners alongside the attackers. But even after reviewing, for nearly ten months, video footage from the time of the attack, still images and live videos spread on social media, the DB could not identify everyone involved. Who drew up the attack plan, how long preparations had gone on, and whether there was financial or political support behind it — none of these questions has been answered either.

Asked about the progress of the investigation, the supervising officer, DMP additional commissioner (DB) Md Shafiqul Islam, said: 'We gave the task to a dark web group; they too could not identify anyone new. So now no prospect of identifying accused can be seen.' Asked what they would do now, he said: 'If you say so, we want to move towards the charge sheet.'

However, the case's current investigating officer says two more people involved in the attack have been identified. No decision has yet been taken on bringing them under the law.

DB officials said the identities of many others who were at the scene during the attack have still not been confirmed. Some of them took direct part in vandalism, looting and arson. Some stood with the attackers, chanted slogans and created tension, and were active nearby during the arson. Video footage from the scene, pictures taken by the media and various still images were collected and reviewed, but not everyone could be identified.

Asked why the investigation has not progressed, DB chief Shafiqul Islam said: 'When we started making arrests, they deleted posts from Facebook pages. The way we made arrests in the first phase, we could not do so later. We brought in some people who had incited through mobile phones. But their presence at the scene or a link could not be found through mobile location. So they could not be kept in the case.'

The current investigating officer, Sub-Inspector (SI) Shah Minhaj Uddin of the DB's Cyber and Special Crime Division, said he is the third investigating officer in the case. He took over the documents from the previous investigating officer, SI Tridip Barua. Analysis of the attack night's video footage is still not finished. He said the previous investigating officer did not seize the mobile phones of any accused other than six people. So only those six people's phones were sent to the CID for forensic examination. The forensic report has not yet been received.

Minhaj Uddin said two more people involved in the attack on the Prothom Alo office have been identified. They are from a madrasa in Dhaka. But no decision has yet been taken on bringing them under the law.

On the afternoon of February 28 this year, after visiting a special exhibition at Prothom Alo's burnt building in Karwan Bazar, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters: 'I have directed that the investigation be properly completed and a charge sheet submitted within the next two months. Then the judicial process will begin.' He had also said that day that everyone's cooperation would be sought in the judicial process, so that exemplary punishment is given and such incidents are not seen again in future.

DB chief Md Shafiqul Islam said that four months ago he met the home minister to inform him of the case's progress after that instruction.

Human rights activist Md Nur Khan said there is a great deal of information and evidence of this terrible attack, including video footage, social media campaigns and still images. The government should take the matter seriously, identify those who instigated and those who took part in the attack, and bring them to justice quickly. There is no scope for any leniency in this case.

Investigation officials said that after the attack, Tejgaon police arrested 25 people in the first eight days. The investigation was then transferred to the DB. The DB arrested another 14 people over the following nearly ten months. Among those arrested, 15 had first been arrested in the case over the attack on The Daily Star building and one in another case; they were later shown arrested in the Prothom Alo case as well.

At midnight on December 18 last year, a group attacked the Prothom Alo building in Dhaka's Karwan Bazar. The attackers broke the shutter of the building's gate, entered inside and carried out extensive destruction through vandalism, looting and arson. Coordinated attacks were carried out the same night on The Daily Star office and the Chhayanaut building. The following evening, the Udichi office was attacked and set on fire. A case over the attack on the Prothom Alo building was filed at Tejgaon Police Station on the night of December 21 under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Special Powers Act, the Cyber Security Act and the Penal Code.