In pursuit of hogging national and international headlines, a group of BNP leaders and activists teamed up from different parts of the country and plotted the scheme to tamper with rail tracks for train derailment designed for mass murder, Sajeeb Wazed, known for his role in revolutionizing Bangladesh’s digital landscape and chairperson of Center for Research and Information (CRI), has said, citing media reports.

“Ahead of the operation, on December 11, all the perpetrators held several meetings in different places across #Gazipur including one at the residence of Ajmal Bhuiya, who is 28 number ward councilor of #GazipurCityCorporation,” he tweeted on December 17 from his verified X account.

Since October 28, in the name of democratic protest, BNP and Jamaat launched a wave of terror against the people of the country that saw hundreds of buses torched and vandalized, several trains were derailed, while coaches were torched with a singular objective to derail the upcoming polls, Sajeeb Wazed wrote.

Police in a drive arrested seven people including a ward councilor of Gazipur city in connection with the derailment of a train in Gazipur that left one dead and seven others injured on December 13.

The arrestees were identified as Hasan Ajmal Bhuiya, ward 28 councilor of Gazipur City Corporation; Sohel Rana; Jannatul Islam; Mehedi Hasan; Julkar Naim Ashrafi; Shahanur Alam; and Saidul Islam.

All of them were current and former leaders and activists of BNP and Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.

In a press briefing on Sunday, Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mahbub Alam, said the arrestees gathered in the house of councilor Ajmal Bhuiya and held a meeting to carry out sabotage activities.

The arrestees uprooted the rail slippers using gas cylinder for two hours at the dead night on Wednesday, he said.

One died and seven were injured as seven coaches of the Dhaka-bound Mohonganj Express derailed near the Bhawal Railway Station after parts of the rail track were uprooted on December 13.