Siddiqui detained under Special Powers Act...............

Former deputy speaker Akhter Hamid Siddiqui was sent to jail after being arrested under the Special Powers Act, in Naogaon on Saturday, for allegedly voicing 'anti-state' sentiments.

"He has been shown arrested and will be detained for a month under Section 2/3 of the 1974 Act," Naogaon police superintendent Mofazzal Hossain told us .

A Naogaon senior judicial magistrate Hasanuzzaman sent the BNP leader to jail at around 8.45pm.

Detective Branch police earlier arrested Siddiqui on the basis of a general diary filed by Mahadevpur Police Station officer-in-charge Ilias Fakir, who alleged that the former deputy speaker "threatened him" after inviting him to his residence Thursday.

A Detective Branch officer said he was taken to the Naogaon police superintendent's office after arrest for questioning.

Fakir told us that Siddiqui had said: "This government will fall within the next two months and lakhs of Awami League supporters will die."

Fakir also quoted Siddiqui as saying. "After the Peelkhana incident, don't you see where the country is heading towards? You will understand if you hear 'the CD'."

Siddiqui also said the country's law and order situation was breaking down, said Fakir.

"He said police were arresting BNP supporters but refusing cases they wanted to file."

Just hours before his arrest Siddiqui, informed reporters at his house at around 3pm that the GD filed against him "was instigated from a special quarter of the government".

"I made no comment against the state or the government."

He said he only informed the OC about the deterioration of the law and order situation and asked him to discharge his duty without any partisan attitude.