BNP leaders, implicated in two cases of setting a bus on fire near the prime minister’s office and exploding crackers in the secretariat during last week’s hartal, took refuse in the Supreme Court Bar Association Building on Sunday.
In the afternoon, they entered the Supreme Court compound one by one and took shelter in lawyers’ chambers in the Bar Association Building, party sources said.
They said that the leaders took shelter in the lawyers’ chamber for the night to appear before the court this morning to seek bail.
They, however, could not say whether or not acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was among the leaders who took shelter there.
Shahidul Islam Babul, vice-president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, told New Age over phone that he himself took shelter there like a number of other leaders implicated in the two cases.
 Soon afterwards he put down the phone.
Syed Nurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan police for the Ramna zone, told reporters that the police came to know that senior BNP leaders were in the Supreme Court compound.
Quoting police sources he said that the leaders entered the court compound through the High Court shrine gate wearing burka. 
Reporters began to crowd the court premises after a TV channel circulated the news on its scroll.
The Supreme Court Bar Association president, Zainul Abedin, came to the court premises at night and told reporters waiting there that TV channel’s news was not correct.
‘We have no information that Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is on the court premises. According to our information some leaders had come to the court to sign the power of attorney and then they left. Even if anyone is staying in the building, the police should not do anything going beyond the law,’ he said adding every accused has the right to consult his attorney.
Zainul criticised the government for deploying the police to keep the court compound cordoned off. ‘I faced some sort of interrogation before I could enter the court premises. This should not happen,’ he said.
No senior lawyer was seen in the court compound after sundown. Only junior lawyers were could be seen there crowded by people surrounding the leaders. Many of them brought their food and water.
Party sources said that the leaders were staying in rooms locked from outside.
New Age lost track of a junior lawyer who was entering the court building carrying food. He hurriedly faded in the darkness sensing that someone was following him. The lights were switched off on the corridors.
At least 28 leaders were implicated in the case of blasting a cracker in the secretariat and 44 leaders were implicated in the case of setting the bus on fire.