RAB bringing charges against actress Pori Moni after detaining her at home

The Rapid Action Battalion has said it is preparing a case after taking into custody actress Pori Moni following the ‘seizure of bottles of liquor’ in a raid on her residence in Dhaka’s Banani.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 4 August 2021, 11:37 AM
Updated : 4 August 2021, 07:55 PM

The RAB also detained film producer Nazrul Islam Raz in a similar raid on his house in the area on Wednesday night, but officials did not specify the charges against them.

They were detained on “specific charges”, said ASP ANM Imran Khan, a spokesman for the RAB, as both Pori Moni and Raz were taken to the law-enforcing agency’s headquarters in Uttara.

“They will be shown arrested once the case against them is filed.”

A panicked Pori Moni went live on Facebook to describe the event as it unfolded after a team of the elite law-enforcement unit arrived on her doorstep in the afternoon.

"Please help me,” she said as she apparently called a law-enforcement agency, with the RAB team waiting outside her house and often pressing the doorbell to get in.

In her Facebook appeal on Wednesday, Pori Moni insisted that the RAB officers allowed a media team in. As the raid unfolded, curious onlookers and journalists gathered in front of her house. The actress was visibly upset as she kept her live stream on.

“I don’t understand. Will you come after I die? I would just die from a heart attack or a stroke. This is nothing but torture,” she said as she pleaded for help.

Pori Moni initially refused to open the door pressing for the identity of the agency. The actress accompanied by a relative later opened the door to the RAB officers and ended the 31-minute stream after the law enforcers entered her flat.

As the evening wore on, RAB led her into a waiting microbus amid a glare of flashing cameras and a crush of reporters around 8 pm, nearly four hours after the drive had begun.

“She has been taken to the RAB headquarters,” said Lt Col Khairul Islam, director of the RAB’s intelligence unit.

The RAB recovered bottles of liquor during a raid on actress Pori Moni’s home in Dhaka’s Banani on Wednesday, Aug 4, 2021. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

Maj Husain Raisul Azam, a spokesman for the law-enforcement agency, said another raid on Raz’s house in Banani was also ongoing. Raz was taken to the RAB headquarters around 10 pm.

However, RAB officials did not yet reveal the reason for the operation. One officer told bdnews24.com that the details about the raid would be revealed later.

The raid comes three days after the arrest of two models Faria Mahbub Piasha and Mou Akter in a police operation.

The two have since been placed on remand for questioning in two separate cases under the Narcotics Control Act.

Pori Moni recently grabbed the headlines after accusing a businessman of trying to rape and murder her at a boating club. Police subsequently arrested Nasir Uddin Mahmood, a Dhaka Boat Club member, in a case filed by the actress.