Rab quizzes three lawyers

The three lawyers arrested over funding Islamist extremists admitted to have deposited money in the bank account of a key member of Shaheed Hamja Brigade, a Chittagong-based militant outfit, Rab claimed.

The trio, however, said they did not know the identity of the account holder, according to officials of the elite crime-busting force.

On Tuesday, Rab-7 members detained the three lawyers, including a Supreme Court barrister Shakila Farzana, from the capital's Dhanmondi area on charges of financing the militant group.

Shakila is also joint general secretary of pro-BNP Nationalist Lawyers Forum.

The two other lawyers are Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon.

Rab members started quizzing the three after a Chittagong court placed them on a four-day remand on Wednesday evening.

Earlier on Wednesday, Rab-7 commanding officer said the trio deposited Tk 1.08 crore out of Tk 1.38 crore they had collected for the Brigade. Of the money, Shakila deposited Tk 52 lakh in cash in two instalments, Liton Tk 31 lakh and Bapon Tk 25 lakh.

On the first day of the remand, all the three “confessed” that they deposited the money in the bank account of Moniruzzaman alias Don, a key member of the outfit, Rab-7 Commanding Officer Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star last night.

Two lawyers -- Hasanuzzaman Liton and Mahfuz Chowdhury Bapon -- told Rab officials that they deposited the money on instructions of Shakila Farzana, he claimed, adding that Shakila confirmed their versions and also admitted to have deposited the money in the account herself.

Rab sources, who did not want to be named, said Farzana told her interrogators that she took some money from Don in fees for running cases filed against Hefajat members and later returned the money.

Miftah backed this version, but added that Farzana claimed she did not know the person from whom she took such a big amount of money and then refunded it.

According to the CO, Don was never a member of Hefajat-e-Islam. He was rather an Islami Chhatra Shibir man.

Advocate Abdus Sattar, counsel for Farzana, said his client took some money from a person in fees for running cases against Hefajat men.

She succeeded in securing bail for some and failed in some other cases. She refunded the money for those she could not secure bail, Sattar added.