'Plot to Kidnap Joy': Charge sheet against Shafik Rehman and four others

Police have charged journalist Shafik Rehman and four others with plotting to kidnap and kill prime minister's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

Jalal Hossain, general registering officer (GRO) of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, told The Daily Star that the Detective Branch (DB) of police submitted the charge sheet before the court on Tuesday.

Other accused in the charge sheet are: Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of Bangla daily Amar Desh, Mohammad Ullah Mamun, vice-president of Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas), and his son Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, and Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, an expat businessman living in the United States.

Police mentioned Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman as the masterminds behind the “conspiracy to kidnap and kill PM's son Joy” in the charge sheet, court sources said. Mamun aided and abetted, they said quoting the charge sheet.

Caesar collected information on Joy from the FBI and sent it to the others accused in the charge sheet. Mizanur financed, aided and abetted.

In August 2015, the DB filed the case with Paltan Police Station in connection with attempting to abduct and murder Joy.

On April 16 the following year, detectives in plainclothes arrested Shafik at his Eskaton Garden Road home.

According to the case statement, Mamun and a number of top leaders of the BNP and its allies met in the UK, the US and various places of Bangladesh before September 2012 and conspired to abduct and kill Joy.

In March 2015, a US court convicted Caesar of bribing an FBI special agent to collect information on a Bangladeshi political figure.

The US justice department did not name the politician, but it is believed to be Joy.

In a Facebook post on March 9, 2015, Joy, also the ICT affairs adviser to the prime minister, accused BNP leaders of conspiring to abduct and kill him.

Shafik, also a British citizen, worked in various media outlets, including the BBC. He came to the limelight after becoming the editor of the weekly Jai Jai Din in 80's.

Mamun and Mizanur are on the run.