Bangladesh court issues new arrest orders against Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das

Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of detained Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in four more cases, a day after the court took a similar action against him in a murder case.

Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate SM Alauddin Mahmud issued the order after a virtual hearing, state-run BSS news agency reported.

A former ISKCON leader, Das, was arrested at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on November 25 last year in a sedition case over alleged defamation of the national flag. His bail petition was rejected by a Chattogram court, which sent him to jail the next day.

His arrest sparked widespread protests, with his followers demonstrating in Dhaka and other places.

The four cases on which the court took action on Tuesday include obstruction of police duties at the Kotwali police station and attacks on lawyers and justice seekers, according to Assistant Public Prosecutor Md Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury.  "The court granted the plea to show him (Das) arrested after the hearing,” news portal bdnews24 quoted Chowdhury as saying.

Das was presented to the court virtually for the hearing, considering his "security and overall situation,” an official was quoted as saying by the report.

Security was beefed up at the Chattogram court premises since Tuesday morning in anticipation of the virtual hearing, BSS reported. Security was also heightened in front of the Chattogram jail, it added.

On Monday, the court ordered Das' arrest in connection with the murder of assistant government prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif, who was hacked to death during the violent protest sparked by the Hindu leader's arrest.

On April 30, a High Court bench ordered Das' release on bail. However, the decision was challenged before the Appellate Division’s chamber judge Justice Rezaul Haque, who stayed the ruling.

Earlier, the lawyers of the Hindu community leader had failed to secure bail for him as the lower court in Chattogram denied their petitions.

"The allegation of disrespecting the national flag is baseless, as it was not a national flag,” top defence counsel Apurba Kumar Bhattacharya earlier said.