BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury’s remand hearings deferred

The hearings of police pleas to quiz BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury in custody have been deferred.

Police wanted Aslam in custody for a total of 30 days to grill him in connection with three cases—two related to violence and the other for treason.

Courts of three different magistrates were expected to hear the matter on Monday.

The remand pleas for treason in an alleged plot with Israel will be heard on Tuesday, while those for violence-related cases on Jun 6.

The BNP joint secretary general was produced before the courts by police during the proceedings on Monday.

The law enforcers have sought 10 days in each of the violence-related cases, and another 10 days in the case over an alleged plot with Israel to topple the government.

Aslam has been charged with vandalism, arson and obstruction to police duty in the violence cases by filed by Motijheel and Lalbagh police stations in Dhaka.

On May 15, Aslam was arrested and produced before a Dhaka court the next day and was remanded in police custody for seven days.

After the remand expired, police, on May 24, showed him arrested in the violence cases and filed a remand plea in the court over the charges.

On May 26, police initiated a case on charges of treason over a ‘plot with Israel’.

Aslam came into the limelight recently because of his meeting with Israel’s Likud Party leader Mendi N Safadi during an event in New Delhi this year.

Safadi was a former advisor to Israeli deputy minister MK Ayoub Karar. He also runs the Mendi N Safadi Center for International Diplomacy and Public Relations.

Leaders of the ruling Awami League have since claimed that the meeting between the two was part of a conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with help of Israeli spy agency Mossad.

But the BNP has refuted the allegation, saying Aslam’s India trip was ‘personal’.

Aslam and Safadi both have admitted to meeting each other in Delhi but claimed nothing covert was discussed.