Controver-sial army officer Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan, who was sacked from the service a day after the fall of the Hasina-led government amid an uprising, was arrested on Thursday night from the capital’s Khilkhet area.
Yesterday, a Dhaka court placed him on an eight-day remand in a case filed over the death of Shahjahan, a shopkeeper, in the New Market area during the quota reform protest on July 16.
The next day, Ayesha Begum, the mother of the victim, lodged a murder case against some unnamed assailants.
Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to former premier Sheikh Hasina, and ex-law minister Anisul Huq were also placed on a 10-day remand in the same case on Wednesday, a day after they were arrested in Dhaka’s Sadarghat area.
Ziaul, former director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), an intelligence agency under the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, was arrested based on secret information, according to a Whatsapp message from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Later in another message, DMP said Ziaul was handed over to police on Thursday night after he went to the army for shelter. He was later arrested.
NTMC is responsible for monitoring, collecting, and recording information and communication data as well as for the interception of electronic communication such as phone calls, emails, and social media accounts.
Ziaul was detained in a dramatic circumstance around midnight on August 7 after the plane on which he was fleeing was brought back from the Dhaka airport runway to the boarding bridge, sources said earlier.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arfatul Rakib placed him on remand after investigation officer Sajib Mia, sub-inspector of New Market Police Station, produced him before the court with a 10-day remand appeal in the Shahjahan murder case, said a sub-inspector working in the court.
Ziaul told the court that since his detention on August 7, he was kept at Aynaghor (a secret detention facility).
He also claimed that Aynaghar was not his creation, and no one ever filed any complaint, case or even a general diary against him. Claiming his innocence, Ziaul said that he has cardiovascular issues and he did not go to the New Market area during the incident on July 16.
The defence lawyer, also a younger sister of Ziaul, sought bail along with cancellation of the remand appeal.
Ahead of his court appearance, the army, BGB, and additional police personnel were deployed at the court premises.
In Aynaghor, numerous individuals were reportedly held captive and subjected to torture for years during Hasina’s administration.
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ZIAUL
Maj (sacked) Arif Hossain, one of the convicts in the Narayanganj seven-murder case, confessed before a Narayanganj court that two days after the murder, Col Ziaul Ahsan, then Rab additional director general (operations), gave former Rab-11 commanding officer Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad an assignment to kill Nur Hossain.
Nur Hossain is the main accused in the case, and he allegedly paid Rab members Tk 6 crore to kill Narayanganj city councillor Nazrul Islam, one of the seven victims.
Col Zia, then second-in-command of the force, called now sacked Lt Col Tareque and Maj Arif to his Rab headquarters office and gave the order, according to the charge sheet of the 2014 murder case that contains the statement.
Ziaul earlier, however, denied that he gave any such orders.
He joined the Bangladesh Army as a commissioned officer in 1991 and is alleged to have been involved in enforced disappearances and assassinations during his time in the Rab.
Despite various allegations, the Awami League government promoted Ziaul to the rank of Major General.
