A Dhaka court on Monday ordered five of the 12 people arrested on suspicion of militant activities at Tejgaon College Mosque in the capital’s Farmgate area to be sent to jail after their three-day remand ended.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ismail passed the order after the Detective Branch (DB) of police produced the five before the court and sought their detention.
The five individuals sent to jail are Shihab Uddin, 32, Marzuk Ahmed, 26, Saifur Rahman Khan, 32, Rammi Mia, 29, and Kamichul Islam, 36.
No bail petition was filed on their behalf.
The remaining seven accused – Sajjad Hossain, 22, Afif Ahmed, 20, Mohaiminul Haque, 27, Jauzi Chowdhury, 19, Shahadat Hossain, 25, Sakib Ahmed, 26, and Junaid Ahmed, 21- are still in remand.
Inspector Akhtar Morshed of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit produced the accused before the court and sought their detention under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, citing a general diary filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station.
According to the police application, the accused were questioned several times during the remand period.
Police also said that, except for Kamichul Islam, the other four are administrators or members of several social media-based meetup groups, including “Deeni Community Sylhet Division”, “Deeni Community Dhaka District”, “Asho Jamaatoboddho Hoi” and “Ittihadul Ummah”.
The authorities are investigating whether the groups were used to recruit people sharing similar ideological views or to spread religious extremism, according to the application.
Shafiqul Islam, a sub-inspector of the prosecution department, said the court had earlier granted three days’ remand for all 12 suspects.
“After questioning them during remand, five were produced before the court today with a prayer for their detention in jail. The court ordered them to be sent to jail,” he said.
Police said the mobile phones seized from the accused had been sent for forensic examination. Investigators expect the forensic reports to provide further information relevant to the case.
The 12 people were arrested by law enforcement agencies on 18 September from Tejgaon College Mosque in Farmgate on suspicion of militant link.
A Dhaka court granted police three days’ remand for questioning the following day .
