A Dhaka court on Wednesday placed two leaders of the banned organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League on a five-day remand each in an anti-terrorism case filed with Gulshan Police Station.
The accused are Falguni Das Tonni, 32, former assistant general secretary of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) and deputy literature affairs secretary of the Chhatra League’s central committee, and Sajedul alias Sajedur Rahman Sohan, 28, joint general secretary of the organisation’s Tungipara unit in Gopalganj.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Joshita Islam passed the order after hearing separate remand petitions filed by the investigation officer.
Shariful Islam, a lawyer representing Sohan, confirmed the order.
Tonni was arrested on 22 October, while Sohan was arrested on 24 October. Both were subsequently sent to jail.
Investigation officer Ruhul Amin, a sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station, produced the two accused before the court and sought seven days of remand for each.
In the petitions, the investigation officer said their interrogation was necessary to uncover the motive behind the incident, identify and locate other accused who remain at large, trace their alleged financiers and identify those who planned the incident.
Public prosecutor Shamsuddoha Sumon argued in favour of the remand, while defence lawyers sought its cancellation. After hearing both sides, the court granted five days of remand for each accused.
According to the case statement, around 80 to 100 unidentified people, including leaders and activists of the banned Chhatra League and the Awami League, whose activities have been suspended, gathered on the road in front of a KFC restaurant on Road 3 in Gulshan-1 at around 11:30am on 11 September.
The complaint alleges that the group detonated crude bombs and created panic during a procession as part of an attempt to undermine the government’s image and carry out subversive and destructive activities in the area.
Police said officers reached the scene after receiving information about the incident. The suspects allegedly detonated crude bombs and acted aggressively when police arrived.
Police fired two rounds of rubber bullets into the air to bring the situation under control and disperse the procession, according to the case statement.
The suspects allegedly fled, leaving behind a bag wrapped in red-and-green tape containing five unexploded crude bombs, which police later seized. Sub-Inspector Mahbub Hossain of Gulshan Police Station filed the case.
Police claimed that during preliminary interrogation, the accused and others involved in the case admitted to involvement in an alleged conspiracy against the state and the bomb explosions. These claims have not been established in court.
