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DHAKA: Police have shown four people, including A N M Ayas, arrested in a sedition case over the defacement of a graffiti depicting Rabindranath Tagore on a wall in front of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha, Dhaka.
Sheikh Zahidul Islam, deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Ramna Division, confirmed the information to the media on Sunday. He said the four had been shown arrested in a case filed over alleged anti-state activities.
The accused are A N M Ayas, 29, Md Sakibul Hasan, 19, Md Sujon Mia, 18, and Marzia Khandaker Rimi, 27.
On Saturday, several people, including A N M Ayas, member secretary of an organisation called the State Dialogue Forum, went to the wall in front of the Shilpakala Academy and attempted to whitewash the graffiti depicting Tagore.
Earlier in the day, the police told that a man named Ayas had been detained from the area in front of the academy and taken to the police station for allegedly attempting to erase the graffiti.
On October 5, Dhaka South City Corporation cleared the footpath in Segunbagicha of encroachments. Subsequently, portraits of 10 prominent figures who contributed to the country’s arts, literature and culture were painted on the wall, including artist Zainul Abedin, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, poet Rabindranath Tagore and national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
The footpath was later reopened to pedestrians. New dustbins were installed, benches were built for pedestrians to rest, and the boundary wall was repaired.