The forces picked up Zafarullah in front of his Gulshan 2 residence around 7:30pm while they picked up Ashim in Dhanmondi around 8:00pm, said police and family sources.

A team of joint forces arrested BNP leader Toymur at his Gulshan residence in a predawn raid.

Charges against Zafarullah and Ashim were not disclosed.

"A team of plain-clothes law enforcers came in a microbus and picked up my father when he was out for a walk in front of the house," Zafarullah's eldest son Omar Zafar told The Daily Star.

He said he and his family members got scared the way the law enforcers picked up his father. "At first, we thought that he was being kidnapped, but later police confirmed that he had been arrested," Omar added.

The official confirmation about the arrests was not immediately available.

Meanwhile, Toymur was placed on a two-day remand after his arrest yesterday.

In the afternoon, he was handed over to Paltan police who produced him before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Dhaka with a prayer for a seven-day remand in connection with a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

In the case filed with Paltan Police Station, ACC Inspector Shafique Ullah mentioned that being a close aide of detained former communications minister Nazmul Huda, Toymur appointed 537 incompetent people in the BRTC through corruption.

The Paltan police produced a handcuffed Toymur before the CMM's court at 5:40pm under a tight security.

In the forwarding report placed before the court, the officer-in -charge of Paltan Police Station, who is also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, mentioned that Toymur appointed incompetent people at BRTC illegally which is considered to be a corruption.

So, he needs to be remanded to find out vital clues regarding his corruption, the IO said.

The defence lawyers submitted a petition for cancelling the remand prayer, saying that the case was filed against Toymur as part of a conspiracy to harass him.

They said the process of appointing the candidates to different posts of the BRTC was transparent.

Toymur told the court that the charges brought against him were false, fabricated and concocted. He also claimed that the candidates were selected through different tests following the instructions from the ministry concerned.

After hearing both the sides, Metropolitan Magistrate Mamun Al Rashid rejected the defence petition and placed Toymur on a two-day remand.