12 arrestees from Tejgaon remanded over alleged extremist links

A Dhaka court on Saturday placed 12 accused on a three-day police remand over alleged involvement in extremist ideology.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arifur Rahman passed the order after a hearing on a seven-day remand plea, said state counsel Md Azizul Haque Didar.

The arrestees were held from Tejgaon College Jame Mosque in the Farmgate area of the capital on 18 September

The accused placed on remand are Md Shihab Uddin, 32, Marzuk Ahmed, 26, Saifur Rahman Khan, 32, Md Rasmi Mia, 29, Md Kamichul Islam, 36, Md Sazzad Hossain, 22, Afif Ahmed, 20, Md Mohaiminul Haque, 27, Jaoji Chowdhury, 19, Shahadat Hossain, 25, Sabbir Ahmed, 26, and Junaid Ahmed, 21.

Earlier, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit produced the accused before the court and sought remands after showing them arrested under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

However, defence lawyers sought cancellation of the remand and bail, while the prosecution opposed the bail pleas. After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail petitions and granted three-day remand.

On 18 September, the 12 were arrested from the second floor of Tejgaon College Jame Mosque on suspicion that they had gathered there to promote religious extremist ideology, violence, disruptions of public security or creating panic among the public, according to police.

According to the remand petition, preliminary examination of the mobile phones seized from the accused found that all of them were members of a WhatsApp group named “Meetup.”

The petition claimed that police found information suggesting conversations about spreading extremist ideology and links with extremist organisations in the group. It added that accused Shihab Uddin was the admin of the group and had allegations of involvement in extremism against him.

Police sought the seven-day remand citing the need to recover digital evidence, examine the accused’s online communications, identify possible associates, determine the purpose of their gathering, verify financial transactions, and establish the incident’s timeline, motive and communication patterns.