A Dhaka court on Monday sent former senior secretary Abu Alam Shahid Khan to jail after the investigating officer requested to keep him behind bars until the completion of a probe into a “fascist plot to overthrow the interim government.”
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saifuzzaman issued the jail order in response to the plea submitted by Shahbagh Police Station Sub-Inspector and case investigating officer Towfiq Hasan.
The arrestee was present at the scene when a “seditious meeting” was being held last month, and his detention is needed to ensure a fair investigation into the incident, Towfiq said.
Towfiq Hasan told reporters that he would soon ask the court to put Shahid Khan on remand for getting a better picture into the alleged plot centring a new platform named “Mancha 71.”
No lawyer represented the former secretary during Monday’s hearing. The state was represented by Md Shamsuddoha Sumon.
On 28 August, Abu Alam Shahid Khan attended a meeting marking the launch of a new platform named “Mancha 71.” He was joined by Latif Siddique, an ousted Awami League member and a former minister, and Hafizur Rahman, a professor of law at Dhaka University, among others.
Mancha 71 aims to work against attempts to erase and manipulate the history of the Liberation War, according to the group.
The plaintiff’s lawyer claimed, citing those present at the platform’s introductory meeting, there was a plot to wage a strong “anti-government movement” under the cover of “protecting Liberation War history.”