Dhaka court grants police five days to question Shaukat Mahmood in custody

A Dhaka court has granted police five days to interrogate Shaukat Mahmood, a former Jatiya Press Club president and Janata Party Bangladesh general secretary, in their custody.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Fahmina Khandakar Anna passed the remand order on Thursday.

Sub-Inspector Jinnat Ali of the Prosecution Division said on Monday police had sought 10 days to grill the journalist union leader.

He was brought to the court premises from jail in the morning.

Shaukat was arrested on Sunday in connection with a case filed against Bangladeshi-origin US citizen Enayet Karim Chowdhury over his involvement in a “conspiracy to topple” the interim government.

The defence lawyer had demanded bail for Shaukat, which was rejected by the court.

In the remand plea, Inspector Akhtar Morshed said Shaukat and several unnamed suspects, working with Enayet, tried to stir fear among the public and threaten the country’s security, unity and sovereignty.

He also claimed they held secret meetings with political leaders, high-ranking officials and businesspeople to topple the interim government.

The plea also said Shaukat, along with others, had been trying to destabilise Bangladesh’s political, economic and social situation on behalf of a “powerful foreign nation”. Police want to question him to find out which groups he “conspired with.”

According to the case statement, Enayet moved to the United States in 1988 and became a US citizen in 2004. He allegedly came to Bangladesh on Sept 6 as an agent of a foreign intelligence agency to help overthrow the interim government.

The case says that around 10:30am on Sept 13, he was seen “moving suspiciously” in a Toyota Prado SUV on the capital’s Minto Road. Police stopped him after becoming suspicious. When asked why he was there, he could not give an answer. Police then detained him and seized two iPhones from his possession.

An Anti-Terrorism case was then filed over the incident at Ramna Model Police Station. Kazi Md Mamunur Rashid, secretary general of the Raushon Ershad wing of the Jatiya Party, and several others have since been arrested in connection with the case.

Shaukat was named secretary general of the newly formed Janata Party Bangladesh on Apr 25. Veteran film actor and road safety campaigner Ilias Kanchan is the party’s chairman.

He had previously served as a vice-chairman of the BNP, but was expelled by the party in March 2023 for breaching party discipline.