Published : 13 Jul 2026, 08:01 PM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:24 AM
Police detectives have arrested Haridas Chandra, alias Tarani Das, the organiser behind a Ram idol construction project in Gaibandha’s Palashbari, in a money laundering case.
He was arrested around 12:30am on Sunday near Radha Gobinda Kali Mandir in Madhya Ramchandrapur village, under the Upazila's Hosenpur Union.
Haridas is the son of Gopinath Chandra Das from the village.
Palashbari Police chief Sarwar Alam Khan said on Monday that CID officers arrested Haridas in a case filed with Uttara West Police Station in Dhaka.
"He has been taken to the capital,” he said
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch chief Shafiqul Islam said Haridas was arrested following the CID's requisition.
CID Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Jasim Uddin Khan said the agency had taken custody of Haridas.
The officer added that additional police had been deployed around the temple area and the situation remained normal.
A CID statement said its Financial Crime Unit filed the case against Haridas over alleged money laundering of Tk 93.5 million.
The agency said it conducted a preliminary investigation after allegations of involvement in government job-related fraud, transfers, Hundi transactions and organised crime surfaced against him.
The investigation found that the money had been deposited into his bank and mobile financial service (MFS) accounts despite no known legitimate source of income, it added.
The CID said Haridas withdrew almost the entire amount, describing the transactions as “suspicious”.
It added that large sums of money were deposited into his accounts by people from different parts of the country, which did not match his known profession.
The CID says that information about a case under the Digital Security Act has been found against Haridas at Banani Police Station. A regular case has been filed against him at Uttara West Police Station under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act as the initial investigation has “proven domestic and foreign currency laundering and organised crime”.
The investigation into suspicious transactions in his various bank and MFS accounts is ongoing, the release said.
According to the CID, Haridas passed his Secondary School Certificate exams from Hasbari Bahumukhi High School in Palashbari in 2006 and his Higher Secondary Certificate exams from Cambrian College in Dhaka in 2008.
The CID has learned that Haridas illegally went to India in 2010 and returned to the country after receiving “education and training”. He converted to Islam in 2019 and took the name Towhid Islam.
Since then, Haridas has introduced himself as the protocol officer of the then prime minister Sheikh Hasina at various times. To gain credibility, he would play fake phone calls saved in the names of influential people and edited photos of himself with Hasina.
Recently, the temple authorities started the construction of a Ram idol on the premises of Radha Govinda and Kali temples in Palashbari Upazila. They say it will be the “largest” Ram idol in Asia.
The temple committee suspended the construction of the idol on Jun 9 after the Imam Ulama Parishad launched a protest questioning the source of its funding.
Among the eight-point demands of the Ulama Parishad is that the intelligence agencies and relevant authorities should verify whether there is direct or indirect funding, influence or involvement of any foreign state, organisation or individual in the idol’s construction.
According to locals, Haridas returned to the area in 2024 after staying in India for a long time.
Then he took the initiative to modernise the old infrastructure of the village's Kali temple.
As part of this, a temple committee was formed in a meeting held in the village with Haridas as the president and Bipin Chandra Das as the general secretary.
The committee started the work of modernising the temple in May 2025. The temple was renamed Radha Govinda and Kali Temple.
Recently, the construction of an 81-foot-high Ram idol began on the temple premises.
After that, meetings were held in various places across the country, including Palashbari and Gaibandha, to remove the idol, investigate the source of funding, and arrest Haridas.
