A Dhaka court has ordered the imprisonment of Bengal Group Chairman and former Member of Parliament from Noakhali Morshed Alam, in connection with the murder of a teenage boy, Md Shamim, in the capital’s Dhanmondi area, during the anti-discrimination movement.
On Wednesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahin Reza issued the order following a hearing.
Earlier, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Sub-Inspector Shaheen Mia produced the accused before the court and petitioned for his detention.
The defense counsel submitted a bail plea on behalf of the accused, while Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi opposed the bail and supported the remand plea.
Upon conclusion of the hearing, the magistrate ordered that the accused be sent to jail.
In court, Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi said that the accused supported Sheikh Hasina in transforming Bangladesh into a fascist state.
He added that the accused had no background in student politics and questioned why businessmen such as him became involved in politics.
He alleged that their political engagement served the purpose of tax evasion, duty evasion and obtaining undue privileges.
He further claimed that they laundered approximately Tk20 lakh crore abroad.
The prosecutor noted that the arrests in cases related to the anti-discrimination movement are being made based on substantial evidence and therefore urged the court to remand the accused to custody.
The defense counsel argued that the accused, an elderly individual, was taken from his residence and had not gone into hiding.
On the night of Tuesday, Morshed Alam was arrested by the Detective Branch (DB) police from the Gulshan-2 area in the capital.
According to the case documents, on August 5, during the anti-discrimination movement, 13-year-old Md Shamim participated in the protest in front of Hotel Chillis in Dhanmondi 32.
That afternoon, the accused allegedly opened fire and set fires at the scene, resulting in Shamim being severely burnt.
He was later taken to Suhrawardy Hospital on August 6, where doctors declared him dead.
On October 3, the victim’s mother, Jahanara Begum, filed a case with Dhanmondi Police Station, naming former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 127 others as accused.
Notably, Morshed Alam is also the chairman of the private television channel RTV.
He was elected as a Member of Parliament from Noakhali-2 (covering parts of Senbagh and Sonaimuri upazilas) in the 10th National Parliamentary Election in 2014 and subsequently re-elected in the 11th and 12th parliamentary elections from the same constituency.
