Published : 04 Oct 2026, 06:11 PM
Updated : 04 Oct 2026, 06:11 PM
A Dhaka court has sent Jamaat-e-Islami leader retired major Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman Ranjan to jail in a case over “causing unrest, obstructing government work, insulting a security officer and threatening the airport's executive director” at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport.
After police questioned the Jamaat-e-Islami leader in their custody for a day, he was produced before the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jamshed Alam on Sunday.
The judge rejected his bail application.
Later, an order was issued to send him to jail, said Sub-Inspector (SI) Abu Bakkar Siddique of the Prosecution Department.
The Detective Branch (DB) arrested Akhtaruzzaman from his house at Dhaka’s Cantonment on Friday evening. On Saturday, the court granted a one-day remand for questioning.
After the remand, the investigation officer of the case, Airport Police Station SI Majedul Islam, presented him to the court on Sunday and petitioned to send him to jail.
The petition said that the suspect was interrogated “extensively and intensively” about the incident as per the directions of the High Court on a one-day remand. During the interrogation, Akhtaruzzaman allegedly “confessed the truth” in the case and provided some “information”.
The information obtained from him is now being verified, it said.
Stating that the investigation into the case is ongoing, the investigation officer requested that the accused be detained in jail.
Lawyer Abdur Razzak and several others petitioned for bail on behalf of Akhtaruzzaman. Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Faruq Faruqi opposed the bail as the representative of the state.
After the hearing, the court rejected the bail application and ordered him to be sent to jail.
The Incident
On Thursday, there was a commotion at the airport over a delay in providing Zamzam water to Umrah passengers on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight from Madinah and a delay in them receiving their luggage. A video of the incident went viral on social media.
In the video, former MP Akhtaruzzaman can be heard saying to the airport's executive director, Group Captain SM Ragib Samad: "I will throw you out by the neck. I will throw you out by the neck. You don't work, you don't do anything -- you just lobby and take up posts. Do you want a beating?"
The case statement says that 34 Jamaat-e-Islami representatives and their families arrived in Dhaka from Madinah on Biman Bangladesh Airlines' BG-338 flight at 8:55am on Oct 1. Due to the heavy pressure of arriving passengers at the airport at the time, a long queue formed for collecting trolleys.
The complaint says that some protocol assistants tried to grab trolleys by violating the rules of the line. This, along with the delay in the luggage arrival and the lack of Zamzam water led to “indecent” behaviour.
Meanwhile, around 10:15pm, Dhaka-5 MP Mohammad Kamal Hossain summoned Group Captain SM Ragib, the airport's executive director, to the scene.
When Ragib went to the spot and spoke to those concerned, Akhtaruzzaman aggressively approached and abused him, the complaint states.
The complaint states that when the executive director tried to explain the additional passenger pressure and trolley management issue, Akhtaruzzaman grew more agitated and said: "I will beat you, you idiot", "Get out of here", "I will drag you out by the neck", "You don't know your job, you got the posting by lobbying", and "Do you want a beating?"
Amid concerns Akhtaruzzaman’s behaviour could escalate the situation, Dhaka-5 MP Kamal removed Ragib to a safe distance, the complaint states.
The case details also allege that Akhtaruzzaman then threatened those present. He said, "You all need to be tied up and beaten at the airport and posted on social media so that Tarique Rahman sees it, then you will shape up. I will push your necks out."
