Police close to identifying suspects in Charukola motif arson, says DMP chief

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzat Ali has said that the investigation into the burning of motifs for the Bengali New Year parade at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University is nearing completion.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday while inspecting the security arrangements for Chhayanaut’s traditional celebration at the Ramna Batamul on the eve of Pohela Boishakh, he said: “We hope to share news of arrests very soon.”

Addressing the case filed with Shahbagh Police Station over the incident, the commissioner said: “Let me just say this -- we are very close [to making arrests]. We’ve come quite far in our detective work. We’re hopeful that before the parade begins at 9am on Monday, we’ll reach a satisfactory point in our investigation. If all goes well, we will be able to arrest the perpetrators by then.”

The arson occurred early on Saturday morning, when the "face of fascism' and "dove of peace" motifs, created for the Pohela Boishakh parade, were set on fire at the Faculty of Fine Arts compound.

Israfil Ratan, an associate professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, said that CCTV footage showed a young man climbing a wall and entering the Faculty of Fine Arts compound, setting the fire, and then leaving the same way he entered in the span of a minute and a half.

"We saw one person in the CCTV footage. We caught him on two or three cameras. He was wearing a black T-shirt and had a mask on his face," he said.

He added that the incident appeared to be “premeditated”, saying: “The person seemed very smart -- not an ordinary individual. It looked like someone put him up to it.”

After inspecting the scene, DMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) SN Md Nazrul Islam said on Saturday: "At first glance, it seems that this is not accidental. Someone did this intentionally. We are sure of this much."

Meanwhile, Cultural Affairs Advisor Mostofa Sarwar Farooki pointed the finger at "accomplices of the ousted [Awami League] government", saying it was "Hasina’s cronies" who burnt the "face of fascism" effigy.

RAB Director General AKM Shahidur Rahman, who visited the Ramna Batamul on Sunday to inspect the security preparations for the Bengali New Year celebrations, said that an investigation is underway to determine whether there was any security lapse in the incident.