Police arrested suspended National Citizen Party (NCP) Joint Member Secretary Gazi Salauddin Tanvir in Dhaka early Wednesday in connection with a case filed under the Cyber Security Act over an alleged derogatory Facebook post about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
Tanvir was picked up from the Purbo Monipur area of the capital by a team of Bogura district police around 4:00am, said Officer-in-Charge of Bogura Sadar Police Station Ibrahim Ali.
Later, he was brought to Bogura and produced before a Bogura Sadar Cognisance Court, which sent him to jail.
The OC said the case was filed on August 2 by district BNP Vice President Maftun Ahmed Khan.
On July 31, the NCP suspended Tanvir after he allegedly posted objectionable remarks about Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Facebook.
According to the party, Tanvir later deleted the post after it drew objections from the party leadership. He also apologised publicly on Facebook and pledged not to repeat such actions in the future.
Reacting to the arrest, NCP Northern Region Chief Organiser Sarjis Alam criticised the move in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
He alleged that despite the party taking disciplinary action against Tanvir, the BNP and police "demonstrated their power" by arresting him.
Sarjis said Tanvir's controversial post was made in the context of recent attacks on NCP leaders and activists in Habiganj and Sylhet.
He expressed frustration that Tanvir was arrested even after deleting the post, apologising publicly and assuring that such an incident would not recur.