Singer Asif lands in jail in a music piracy case

A Dhaka court has sent Singer Asif Akbar to jail in a music piracy case filed by lyricist, composer and singer Shafiq Tuhin under the Information and Communication Technology or ICT Act.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Keshab Roy Chowdhury passed the order on Wednesday after rejecting an appeal for bail sought by the plaintiff’s lawyer and an application for five-day remand sought by CID Sub-Inspector Pralay Roy.

Earlier in the morning, Asif was detained from his studio in Dhaka’s BFDC area around 1:30am on Wednesday, said Molla Nazrul Islam, special superintendent of police under the Criminal Investigation Department.

Police escort singer Asif Akbar to jail from court in Dhaka on Wednesday after he was arrested in an ICT Act case started by lyricist, composer and singer Shafiq Tuhin.

Apart from Akbar, four unidentified people have also been accused in the case filed with the Tejgaon Police Station on Monday.

Asif is accused of digitally pirating and selling at least 617 songs of various artists as mobile phone contents without their permission.

More than 100 songs were written by Tuhin, according to the case document.

Tuhin said he first noticed the alleged piracy through a television programme on Jun 1.

Later he contacted various TV channels and found that Asif had earned a large amount of money by selling those songs through numerous production houses, including his ARB Entertainment.

Tuhin took to Facebook with comments on the issue that prompted Asif to respond.

Asif has also been accused of making abusive, offensive and false comments live on Facebook.