Ex-OC Rakibul remanded again in sedition case

A Dhaka court on Monday sent former officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment Police Station Md Rakibul Hasan to a fresh two-day remand in a sedition case filed over allegations of spreading anti-state and provocative statements on social media.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ishrat Jahan passed the order after a hearing, said defence lawyer Advocate Morshed Hossain Shahin.

Earlier in the day, Rakibul was produced before the court after a five-day remand in the case. Later, the Investigation Officer of the case and Detective Branch Gulshan Zonal Team Inspector Md Jehad Hossain sought a fresh three-day remand for him.

According to the remand application, the accused provided important information during interrogation. A 4-minute-29-second audio recording allegedly provided by him was recorded on a DVD and seized.

The application said the accused needed to be interrogated again for three days to compare his voice with the sample voice as part of a fair and impartial investigation into the case.

However, defence lawyer Morshed Hossain Shahin sought cancellation of the remand and bail for the accused.

He argued that the allegations on which the case was filed do not fall within the scope of sedition. The case could have been filed under the Cyber Security Act. He is a servant of the state and is in no way involved in any act of sedition.

After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail petition and ordered a two-day remand.

Earlier, on 24 September, a Dhaka court placed him on a five-day remand after his arrest in the sedition case filed with Cantonment Police Station.

The case follows the circulation of an audio clip purportedly featuring Rakibul, in which the speaker discusses ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s possible return to the country.

The recording went viral on social media on 17 September. In it, a voice purported to be Rakibul’s is heard making allegations about the political affiliations of senior police officials and financial transactions in the postings of officers-in-charge.

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The speaker also refers to the possibility of Hasina returning to the country in December and claims that the police would be unable to stop her.

Several police sources initially identified the voice in the recording as Rakibul’s, although he claimed that the audio had been generated using artificial intelligence.

Following the controversy, Rakibul was withdrawn as OC of Cantonment Police Station and attached to the Central Reserve Office under the DMP Headquarters and Administration Division. The official order cited “administrative reasons” for the action.