B'desh court orders Hindu monk's arrest

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

A former Iskcon member, Das was arrested at the Dhaka internation airport on Nov 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 said 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, an HC 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. pti