Ex-MP Masud Uddin Chowdhury placed on 6-day remand

A Dhaka court on Sunday granted a fresh six-day remand for former army officer and ex-MP Masud Uddin Chowdhury in a case filed under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act.

Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam passed the order after police produced him in court following the end of his previous five-day remand.

Investigating officer and DB sub-inspector (SI) Raihanur Rahman sought a seven-day remand for further interrogation, while the defence opposed the plea and sought bail. The court, after hearing both sides, allowed six days.

Masud was arrested on March 23 from Baridhara and later shown arrested in the Paltan Police Station case.

The case was filed on September 3 last year by Altab Khan, proprietor of Afia Overseas, alleging that a syndicate embezzled large sums of money and facilitated human trafficking.

A total of 103 people have been accused in the case, including former Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Imran Ahmed, secretary Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, former MP Benazir Ahmed and businessman Ruhul Amin Swapan.

The complainant alleges that the accused extorted excessive fees from workers, collecting Tk 12.56 crore from 841 individuals and embezzling around Tk 240000 crore through organised activities.

MAL/AM