A case has been filed against 113 people, including a former state minister and five former lawmakers, for allegedly staging a protest rally under the banner of the Awami League, whose activities are currently banned, and its affiliated organisations in Jashore on August 28.

Sub-Inspector Shafiqul Islam of the Old Kasba police outpost filed the case with Jashore Kotwali Model Police Station last night.

Local leaders of the Awami League and its associate organisations have been accused in the case, along with another 250 to 300 unidentified people.

Among the accused, police have arrested former councillor Rajibul Islam Raj in connection with the incident. A court later sent him to jail.

The prominent accused include former state minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharya, and former MPs Shaheen Chakladar, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Ranjit Roy, Monirul Islam and Yakub Ali.

According to the case statement, Awami League activists brought out an “anti-government and subversive” procession on the road leading to Palowan Bari in the Kajipara-Kataltala area of Jashore city on the morning of August 28.

The SI said their preliminary investigation found that the rally was organised to create public resentment over electricity supply and obstruct development activities of the incumbent government.

On receiving the information, police from Kotwali Police Station and the Old Kasba Police Outpost went to the area, but the processionists fled, leaving behind a banner bearing the words “National Mourning Day”, said Babul Kazi, officer-in-charge (investigation) of Jashore Kotwali Police Station.

The case is under investigation, while police operations are continuing to identify and arrest the named and unidentified accused, according to the police station.