The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested two people for their alleged involvement in spreading anti-government and coronavirus situation-related rumours on social media, in a case filed against them under the Digital Security Act.
Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and former crocodile farm owner and writer Mushtaq Ahmed were arrested from Kakrail and Lalmatia areas of Dhaka respectively on Tuesday.
RAB Director (legal and media wing) Lt Col Sarwar Bin Kashem told Dhaka Tribune that two people have been arrested for spreading rumours and were handed over to the police.
“The operation is still ongoing. We will provide the details later,” he added.
Confirming the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday, Ramna police station Officer-in-Charge Monirul Islam said RAB 3 handed them over to the police station on Tuesday night.
RAB 3 Deputy Assistant Director Abu Bakkar Siddique filed the case against the duo and 11 others with the police station.
“They have been arrested on charges of spreading anti-government remarks and rumours regarding the coronavirus situation and various law enforcement agencies," said Sub-Inspector Jamsedul Alam, the investigating officer of the case.
“We are trying to arrest others named in the case,” he added.
Cartoonist Kishore had been posting various critical cartoon-posters on the role of the government amid the ongoing coronavirus situation in the country on his “Ami Kishore” Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Mushtaq was reportedly writing on critical issues on Facebook through multiple IDs, including the page “Michael Kumir Tagore.”
Mushtaq Ahmed’s wife Lipa Akhter told Dhaka Tribune that a group of people, identifying themselves as members of RAB-3, came to their home around 2am on Monday and picked up her husband and seized his computer.
On Wednesday during Sehri time, she received a call from Ramna police station informing her that Mushtaq was in police custody.
When she went to the police station on Wednesday morning, she was allowed to read the given FIR (first information report) of the case but was not provided with a copy of it.
Lipa said she only remembered names like Didar and journalist Shahed Alam being mentioned in the FIR.
Apart from writing social media posts, Mushtaq also wrote a book titled “Kumir Chasher Diary” which was published in November 2018 and was working on his next book.
