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Police are seeking a 10-day remand for television actor Siddiqur Rahman in a case involving the attempted murder of rickshaw-driver Jabbar Ali Howlader during last year's July Uprising in Dhaka’s Gulshan.
On Wednesday, Gulshan Police Station's Sub-Inspector Abdus Salam, the investigating officer in the case, produced Siddiqur before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and submitted the remand plea. A hearing on the petition is expected later in the day, reports bdnews24.com.
Prosecution officer SI Moktar Hossain said Siddiqur is currently being held in the court’s lockup and will be presented during the remand hearing.
On Tuesday, a group of men detained Siddiqur near Bailey Road in the capital, physically assaulted him, and handed him over to Ramna Model Police Station. He was later transferred to Gulshan Police Station.
According to the case statement, on July 19, 2024, during an Anti-discrimination Movement protest, gunfire was opened on demonstrators in front of Confidence Tower in Shahjadpur. Jabbar was shot and injured in the incident.
Jabbar later filed a case with Gulshan Police Station accusing 109 people, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Gulshan Police Station chief Mahmudur Rahman said on Tuesday that Siddiqur was implicated in two cases related to the Anti-discrimination Movement.
HOW SIDDIQUR WAS DETAINED
Around 5pm on Tuesday, a group of young men attacked Siddiqur and turned him over to police.
A video clip circulating on social media shows attackers swoop in on the actor on a footpath, beat him up after calling him “a friend of Awami League” and drag him away, ripping his shirt in the process.
Police personnel close by were initially seen not intervening in the incident, but at one point they stepped forward when Siddiqur was weeping.
In the evening, a Ramna police sub-inspector said some young men had dropped Siddique off at the police station.
This follows another incident on Thursday evening when Siddiqur’s home in Gulshan’s Shahjadpur was surrounded by local BNP activists.
According to a report by Swadesh Pratidin, the actor was at home at the time. Upon receiving word of the gathering outside, Siddiqur fled the scene in a car with the help of family members.
Actor-turned-MP Akbar Hossain Pathan Farooque won the Dhaka-17 seat in the 11th general election.
After his death, Siddiqur sought the Awami League nomination, but the ticket went to Mohammad Ali Arafat, who won the seat.
When Siddiqur was denied the nomination, he drew public attention by going live on Facebook and announcing a trip to Dubai “to lift his mood”.
Ahead of the 12th general election, he collected nomination forms for both Dhaka-17 and his birthplace, Tangail-1, but was not selected by the party in either constituency.