Promised Tk 1 lakh as loan, people try to gather at Shahbagh

A group of people, mostly from outside the capital, were lured to Shahbagh intersection today with the promise of Tk 1 lakh each as loans.
They mostly came from outside the capital, and some of them were interrogated by Shahbagh police.
According to those who came for the gathering, an organisation “Non-Violent People’s Uprising Bangladesh” said it would bring back money laundered abroad and that people attending the event in Shahbagh would receive loans of Tk 1 lakh each.
However, police are yet to identify a person involved with the organisation.
Police and locals reported that after Sunday midnight, people from across the country started arriving in buses, pickups, and microbuses, responding to the offer.
As buses arrived throughout the night and in the morning, police and students urged those gathered to leave the area.
At 12:30pm today, an Alam Asia bus arrived in front of the National Museum with at least thirty-two people, including both men and women. When they arrived at Shahbagh, they were questioned by students and onlookers.
Talking to The Daily Star, Lipi Aktar, who led the group, said, “We came from Fulbaria of Mymensingh.”
The other passengers of the bus said Lipi had contacted them.
Several people who had arrived by bus said they were unaware of the exact nature of the event in Shahbagh. They claimed they were promised a loan of Tk 1 lakh taka, which was why they came.
A few individuals mentioned that they had paid a registration fee of Tk 1,000 each.
AKM Shahabuddin Shaheen, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, told The Daily Star that they detained a group of people and were interrogating them to find out what exactly happened.
“After scrutinising, we released those we found innocent and detained others who were connected to the incident,” he added.