BNP stages demo in Dhaka protesting arrest warrants for Tarique, Zubaida

Leaders and activists of BNP have staged a demonstration in Dhaka protesting the arrest warrants issued against the party's acting chairperson Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

BNP supporters were seen bringing out a procession in front of their Nayapaltan central office on Wednesday noon.

Earlier 1 November, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Asaduzzaman issued the warrants against the couple.

The court had also directed the officer-in-charge of Cantonment police station to submit the progress report on the execution of the arrest warrants against them by 5 January.

According to case dockets, the ACC filed a case on 26 September, 2007 at the capital's Kafrul police station against Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman and Tariq Rahman's mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing assets worth Tk4 crore 81 lakh 53 thousand 561 beyond the declared income and concealing the information of assets and acquiring assets outside the known income.

On 31 March, 2009, the investigation officer of the case pressed charges against them at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka.

Tarique's mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu has been dropped from the case following her passing away.

On 25 June this year, the High Court declared Tarique and Zubaida as "fugitives" and rejected their writ petitions challenging the filing and initiation of the graft case.

Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman have been living in London since 2008.