DHAKA: Bangladesh has stepped up a crackdown on the main opposition party, arresting its vice-president amid anti-government protests that have left seven dead and injured hundreds.

A standoff between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has worsened steadily since Monday, when protests erupted over last year’s general election, which the BNP boycotted. Police arrested Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury of the BNP at his home in Dhaka, the capital, on Thursday night.

“A Dhaka court granted five days of remand to Chowdhury in a case of attempt to murder a ruling party lawmaker,” Joint Police Commissioner Monirul Islam told Reuters on Friday.Police came across K’s name after combing through old records and were able to get a match after comparing DNA with his surviving half-sister, who is well over 100, and a 99-year-old half-brother.

“The half-brother has been informed of the confirmation,” police spokesman Anton Schentz told AFP. “The half-sister is however very frail and is no longer really reactive.”

Police are ruling out foul play, believing that K’s death was accidental.