
A Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Thursday remanded former commerce minister Tipu Munshi in police custody for four days in a murder case filed with Badda police station on August 21.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ali Haider passed the order as the police appealed for eight-day remand for him on charge of killing physician Sumon Sikder, Badda police station general recording officer Rezaul Islam confirmed.
Sumon Sikder, 31, was brutally gunned down in front of Fuji Tower in Badda on July 19.
His mother Masuma Begum filed the case against 179 people, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
In the early hours of Thursday, Rapid Action Battalion arrested former commerce minister Tipu Munshi in the capital’s Gulshan area.
Assistant superintendent of police Imran Khan of RAB headquarters media wing said that Tipu was arrested at about 1:00am on Thursday.
Tipu was also a former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association from November, 2005 to July, 2006.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Thursday placed deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman and former law minister Anisul Huq on five-day fresh remand in the same murder case framed against former commerce minister Tipu Munshi.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nurul Huda Chowdhury passed the order as police sought ten-day remand for interrogation, police inspector Md Asaduzzaman, also superviser of all general recording officers in the court.  Â
Both of the accused were produced before the court at about 7:00am on the day, the inspector said, adding that Badda police station sub-inspector Rezaul Alam is also an accused in the killing of Sumon Sikdar.
During the hearing, former law minister Anisul Huq told the court that both he and Salman had supported quota reform movement.
‘I am innocent and don’t know anything about the incident. I want justice from the court,’ said Anisul.
Salman and Anisul were arrested from Sadarghat area of the capital while fleeing by boat on August 13.
The next day, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mamunur Rashid granted a ten-day remand for the duo, in the case of murdering shopkeeper Shahjahan Ali in the Dhaka New Market area during the anti-discrimination student movement.
They were also remanded for 5 days and 10 days, each, in two separate cases lodged with the New Market police station.