Hefazat activists snatch Mamunul away from Narayanganj resort

Hefazat-e-Islam activists snatched their Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque away from a resort in Narayanganj where he was kept in police custody on Saturday after locals found him with a woman, who the Islamist leader claimed to be his wife.

Hundreds of Hefazat supporters ran riot in Sonargaon upazila at around 8pm, vandalizing the Royal Resort and the upazila unit office of the ruling Awami League, before taking their leader to a nearby field where he reportedly ordered the agitated activists to calm down.

Additional police forces have been deployed on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to keep the situation under control.

Earlier in the day, police in Narayanganj took Mamunul Haque into custody after locals nabbed him at the resort with a woman.

Some local residents apprehended him at Sonaragaon upazila’s Royal Resort, Inspector Tabedur Rahman of Sonargaon police station told Dhaka Tribune.

A team of police rushed to the resort and took him to safety after the incident was reported.

The Hefazat leader has neither been arrested nor detained, said Inspector Tabedur, before adding: “He is with us and is being questioned. Basically, we are providing security to him from the people."

Mamunul, however, claimed that the woman was his second wife and that they had been married for the last two years.

Meanwhile, in a leaked phone conversation with his wife, Mamunul was heard saying that the woman was the wife of a person called Shahidul Islam, reports Bangla Tribune.

He also assured his wife that he would explain the matter to her once he reached home.

According to locals, Mamunul was found with the woman in a room of the resort.

A video clip of his detention went viral and created a huge buzz on social media platforms. “I came here [to the resort] to spend the holiday,” he was heard saying.

Mamunul was also seen threatening legal action over “harassment”.

The Hefazat leader has recently been making the headlines by his controversial remarks regarding sculptures. He is also accused of threatening the government in the past.

In November last year, he demanded an immediate halt to the installation of a sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital’s Dholaipar.

Hefazat-e-Islam is once again in the spotlight following its involvement in the deadly violence during demonstrations protesting the Indian prime minister’s recent visit to Bangladesh and the mayhem its supporters resorted to across the country during a countrywide shutdown.

Additional reporting by Shamima Rita, Narayanganj