Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, meantime, cancelled the membership of Mizanur Rahman yesterday for unethically using corrugated iron (CI) sheets of government relief fund that the joint forces recovered from his house.

Separate cases were filed against former deputy minister for land Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu and former BNP lawmaker from Pabna Selim Reza Habib yesterday on charges of misappropriating CI sheets of government relief fund.

The army-led joint forces recovered 100 pieces of CI sheets meant for government relief from Bir Muktijoddah Abdul Gani College, an institution run by former BNP lawmaker Abdul Gani, and 200 pieces of relief CI sheets from Jamaat-controlled Al-Madina Cadet Madrasa in Gangni upazila of Meherpur yesterday.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested the commissioner of Ward No 45 of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Atiqul Islam Matin from his Lalmatia office in the city yesterday.

The joint forces arrested top listed criminal and Tangail municipality commissioner Hafizur Rahman Swapan alias Hatkata Swapan in Tangail town yesterday evening. A listed criminal of Kapashia in Gazipur Golam Mostafa was also arrested.

The joint forces arrested 1,643 people on various charges during their countrywide drive in 24 hours ending at 6:00am yesterday.

Our Nilphamari correspondent reports: Following recovery of 110 pieces of CI sheets of government relief from the Jaldhaka house of former Jamaat MP Mizanur Rahman on Saturday, the joint forces were hunting for him.

They also gave him a 72-hour ultimatum to surrender.

After Mizanur Rahman surrendered to the court at around 3:00pm, First Class Magistrate Ali Ashraf ordered sending him to Nilphamari jail with a 30-day detention, rejecting a bail petition in a case filed against Mizanur for misappropriation of government property.

Mizanur was elected MP from the Nilphamari3 constituency for two consecutive terms. Several thousand curious people gathered the court area as news spread in the town since morning that he would surrender to the court.

Our staff correspondent in Rajshahi reports: Police filed three cases against former deputy minister for land Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu, his elder brother Rafikul Islam Talukdar and two house-helps for misappropriating 52 pieces of CI sheets of government relief fund in Naldanga of Natore district yesterday.

On Sunday, the joint forces recovered government CI sheets that Dulu and his brother used in their village home at Ramsa Kazipur in Naldanga.

Dulu had been evading arrest since February 4 when the joint forces recovered two firearms and 137 bullets from his houses in Natore town and at Ramsa Kazipur.

Police seized 63 pieces of CI sheets meant for government relief from BNP and Zia Parishad offices in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi yesterday. Former post and telecommunications minister Aminul Haque allegedly controlled the offices.

In another drive, police seized 26 pieces of CI sheets of government relief fund, which Rajshahi mayor and former lawmaker Mizanur Rahman Minu allocated to Kathakhali Municipality BNP office, from a mosque in Rajshahi city yesterday.

Our Pabna correspondent adds: Police filed a case against former lawmaker Selim Reza Habib, his younger brother Faruq Reza Habib, principal of Selim Reza Habib Degree College in Pabna and another person on charge of misappropriating CI sheets of government relief fund.

Our staff correspondent adds: A Rab team went to the house-cum-office of commissioner Matin at Lalmatia and joint convener of Mohammadpur Thana BNP at 1:40pm and asked him to go with them.

The Rab men took him to the Rab office near Shia Masjid in Mohammadpur, Matin's private secretary Jahangir Alam said.

The joint forces yesterday recovered more CI sheets meant for relief from a madrasa in the capital's Maghbazar, 156 CI sheets from Raniganj upazila BNP office, Mothurapur union BNP president's house and another union parishad chairman's house in Sirajganj and 24 pieces of CI sheets from Kendua upazila unit Jubo Dal General Secretary Yakub Ali Bhuiyan's house in Netrakona.