Bangladesh court orders detained Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das' arrest in lawyer's murder case

Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Monday ordered the detained Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das' arrest in connection with the murder of a lawyer, who was hacked to death outside a Chattogram court in November last year.

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. He was taken to a Chattogram court, which rejected his bail petition and sent him to jail the next day.

His arrest sparked widespread protests, with his followers demonstrating in Dhaka and other places. In Chattogram, the protest turned violent when assistant government prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif was hacked to death.

"He (Das) was shown arrested in the murder case of Advocate Saiful Islam Alif under a court order,” Chattogram Additional Deputy Commissioner Mafiz Uddin told reporters after the virtual hearing on Monday due to security concerns.

The court officials said metropolitan magistrate SM Alauddin issued the order accepting a police petition during the hearing.

The Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court’s public prosecutor, Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan, said police submitted applications seeking orders to show him arrested in four cases while the court accepted one of the petitions related to the lawyer's murder.

According to mainstream media reports, police have arrested 40 people in connection with the murder case.

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

According to the chamber judge’s directive, the stay order will remain in force until the filing of a leave-to-appeal petition and the release of the full text of the verdict.

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.