A Dhaka court has placed Shariful Islam Shihab, suspected to be involved in the double murder of LGBT rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, on a five-day remand for further interrogation.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Alamgir Kabir Raj issued the order yesterday after Detective Branch Inspector Bahauddin Faruki, who is investigating the case, produced him before the court and placed a petition seeking 10 days of fresh remand for him.
Earlier, Shihab, and active member of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team, was placed on a three-day remand on May 15 by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Kaisarul Islam.
He was arrested at Chhoy Rasta intersection in Kushtia town on the same day.
According to the case, Xulhaz, USAID employee and the editor of Bangladesh’s first-ever LGBT magazine Roopban, and his friend Tonoy were hacked to death at Xulhaz's flat in Kalabagan, Dhaka on April 25.
Xulhaz's elder brother Minhaz Mamun Emon filed a murder case with Kalabagan police station. Later, Sub-Inspector Shamim Ahmed of the police station filed another case regarding the recovery of firearms and sharp weapons at the crime scene and an attack on a police official shortly after the murder.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
