More than a week after an attack on the New Gini Properties housing project at Manikdi, near ECB Chattar in Dhaka, residents say they are still uneasy. Construction across most of the site has stopped, and of the project’s four gates only one remains open.
The attack took place on Saturday night, with the group entering through Gate 4 before looting and vandalising parts of the compound. A case filed the following day by Saiful Islam Bhuiyan, a director of New Gini Properties, names 13 people along with between 150 and 200 unidentified individuals.
Seven people have been arrested so far. Among them is retired Major General Golam Mohiuddin Chowdhury, picked up by the Detective Branch. Shahriar Mahmud is named as the prime accused in the case. Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, additional commissioner of the Detective Branch, confirmed the arrests.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has asked banks for account details relating to Salman Mohammad Muqtadir as part of the inquiry.
Several residents and tenants were caught up in the violence. Relatives of a doctor couple living on the site were assaulted. An engineer identified as Parvez was hacked and had about Tk 50,000 taken from him. Brownfish Studio, which operated from the compound, was extensively damaged; its entrance has since been welded shut and the premises are closed to the public.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has described the incident as land-grabbing and said no attempt at extortion was involved.
For the people living there, the practical effects are ongoing. With building work suspended and access restricted to a single gate, daily movement in and out of the project has become slower, and several residents said they have no clear sense of when normal activity will resume.
