By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Nov 9 (IANS): A total of 13 activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have been arrested for the attack on retired Supreme Court appellate division judge, Justice A.H.M. Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik, police said on Tuesday.

While a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) official put the number of arrested at 12, officials of the elite RAB told IANS that they had arrested the 13th BNP accused on Tuesday.

Justice Manik had delivered the judgment against war criminal, Jamat leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedee, and he was targetted by the BNP for terming its founder and former military ruler BNP founder Ziaur Rahman the killer of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman.

"We've so far arrested 12 people over the attack on the Justice and vandalism of his private car. We've interrogated them and scrutinised CCTV footage. We've got confirmation that the attack was carried out from the BNP rally," DMP's Detective Branch chief Harun-ur-Rashid had said on Monday at a briefing on the arrest of six members of an hacking gang.

He said Harun that said some of the arrestees were still being interrogated in their custody. "We'll be able to extract information about whether other people were involved in the attack."

Justice Manik came under attack in the Nayapaltan area of the capital on November 2. A group of people from a procession swooped on his car while passing near the Central Police Hospital, vandalised it, and assaulted him, and his driver and gunman.