DB moves to file sedition case against BNP's Aslam

Detective Branch (DB) of police will submit an application today to the home ministry seeking its permission to file a sedition case against arrested BNP leader Aslam Chowdhury.

Shaikh Nazmul Alam, deputy commissioner of DB (north), made the comment while talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), home ministry approval is mandatory to file a sedition case against any one.

A DB team arrested Aslam along with one of his associates in the capital's Khilkhet area on May 15. The BNP joint secretary general had drawn controversy after meeting Mendi N Safadi, an Israeli political leader, in India early this month.

DB sources said Aslam's passport had already been seized and his travel documents were being collected.

He has not yet “divulged” any information about any conspiracy but admitted meeting Safadi, added the sources.

Known to be a trusted lieutenant of BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, Chittagong-based businessman Aslam came under severe criticism both in and outside the party after several photographs, where he was seen with Safadi, went viral on social media.

Safadi is a leader of Israel's Likud Party and chief of International Diplomacy and Public Relations.

Recently, a Bangla daily ran a series of reports where it was alleged that the BNP was involved in hatching a plot to topple the Awami League government by joining forces with Mossad, Israel's secret service agency.

On Monday, Safadi said he met Aslam in India but had no “secret meeting” with the BNP leader.

“Everybody knows about the situation in Bangladesh and the condition of minorities there. We have talked about those issues at a public programme.

“Nothing could be funnier than the claims that we were conspiring to stage a military coup in Bangladesh or hatching a plot against the government,” Safadi told BBC Bangla Service over phone from Israel.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday assigned one of its officers to investigate an allegation against Aslam that he amassed a huge amount of illegal wealth.

The anti-graft watchdog took the step after one Mobarak Hossain filed an application with it on behalf of citizen platform Sachetan Nagorik Samaj, said ACC Public Relation Officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya.

According to Mobarak, Aslam owns several business organisations and CNG filling stations in Chittagong's Sitakunda and different areas of the country. He also has a salt factory in Chittagong's Boalkhali and several hundred Bighas of land in Cox's Bazar.

Again, the BNP leader is the proprietor of Inani Resort in Chakaria, claimed the complainant who also said an ACC investigation would be able to find out a “huge amount of Aslam's illegal wealth”.

ACC Director Iqbal Hossain would coordinate the investigation, added Pranab.