Former National Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud has been sent to jail after completing a five-day remand in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act by Ramna Police Station.
On Friday, the investigating officer of the case, Inspector Akhtar Morshed of the DB Police’s Ramna Zonal Team, produced Shawkat Mahmud before the court and sought an order to keep him in jail. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam subsequently ordered that he be sent to prison, said Sub-inspector Jinnat Ali of the prosecution department.
Shawkat Mahmud was arrested on December 6 in the same case in which Enayet Karim Chowdhury, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was arrested on charges of being involved in a conspiracy to overthrow the government. Police had sought a 10-day remand for Shawkat Mahmud the following day. However, as the main case documents were not available, the remand hearing was scheduled for December 11, when the court granted a five-day remand.
According to the case statement, Enayet Karim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin American citizen, moved to the United States in 1988 and obtained a U.S. passport in 2004. He is alleged to have arrived in Bangladesh from New York on September 6 as an agent of a foreign intelligence agency to overthrow the country’s interim government.
The case further states that on September 13, around 10:30 am, Chowdhury was seen moving “suspiciously” in a Prado vehicle in the Minto Road area. Police stopped the vehicle due to suspicion. When questioned, he reportedly failed to provide an answer and was taken into police custody. Two iPhones were seized from him.
The case was filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Ramna Model Police Station. Later, several others were arrested in connection with the case, including Kazi Md Mamunur Rashid, secretary-general of the Rowshan faction of the Jatiya Party.
