"It has become a regular practice of the government to shift the blame on to the opposition before completion of an official investigation," he said at a press conference at the party's Dhanmondi office in the city.

"How can the state minister be so confident that the opposition men are involved in the incident? Has the investigation already been completed?" asked Saber, also a frontline AL leader, adding, "If not, will the officers under the home ministry be able to enquire into the case properly when their minister has already come to a conclusion?"

"We have heard similar statements of the government high-ups after the August 21 grenade attacks, the murder of Ahsanullah Master MP, bombs blasts at Mymensingh cinema halls and many other cases," said the AL leader.

Such statements help the real culprits go unpunished and blocks the normal course of investigation, he observed.

Driver Amir Hossain, who suffered serious burns during the May 21 hartal, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Wednesday. Several unidentified youths poured petrol on him and his vehicle and set fire to them in the city's Khilgaon area.

Saber, a former lawmaker from Khilgaon-Motijheel-Sabujbagh area, wanted to participate in the namaz-e-janaza of Amir held at Sabujbagh on Wednesday, but police prevented him and forced him to leave.

In the press conference, Saber accused present lawmaker from the constituency Mirza Abbas, who is also housing and public works minister, of dirty politics centring on the death of the innocent driver.

Police told him that they had orders from on high not to allow him to attend the janaza, Saber said. But the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner said there was no such order, he added.

"Why did police bar me and who controls the police? The police commissioner, local lawmaker of BNP or the criminals?" he asked.

Referring to the case regarding the killing of the driver, the AL leader said police did not file any case in this connection. The plaintiff of the case is not even a relative of the victim, he said, adding that a leader of the Jubo Dal, youth wing of the ruling BNP, who was once expelled from the Jubo League, youth front of the AL, filed the case.

Moreover, the statement of the plaintiff did not match with the driver's account given before his death or the statements of his family members, Saber said.