A youth leader of the opposition party’s local unit in Sathia upazila of Pabna has been arrested in connection with an attempted rape case. Police detained Abul Kashem, senior vice president of the 7th Ward unit of the Youth Wing in R-Ataikula Union, early Monday from Shahjadpur in Sirajganj district. The arrest follows allegations that on June 11, Kashem attempted to rape a seventh-grade student while she was returning home from school. The victim’s mother filed a case the next day at Ataikula Police Station.

Following the incident, local residents attacked, vandalized, and set fire to Kashem’s business establishment on Sunday in protest and to demand his arrest. In a separate move, the union’s Youth Wing expelled Kashem from the organization for alleged involvement in immoral activities. The expulsion was announced Sunday night through a statement signed by the union’s president and general secretary.

Ataikula Police Station’s officer-in-charge confirmed the arrest and said further legal proceedings are underway.