Dhaka: A court here today granted a three-day police remand for former Chief Election Officer (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal for interrogation in connection with the allegation of holding a farcical election in 2024. Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, Sub-Inspector (SI) Shamsuzzoha Sarkar of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Thana, produced the former CEC before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) with a request for a 10-day remand.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the lawyer of the ex-CEC submitted a bail petition to the court opposing the remand request. Metropolitan Magistrate Mustafizur Rahman, on behalf of the CMM, granted a three-day police remand, rejecting the bail petition. The Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police had arrested the former CEC from the city's Moghbazar area the previous day.
Another former CEC, KM Nurul Huda, was also arrested following a mob attack at his Uttara residence on June 22. BNP Central Executive Committee member Salah Uddin Khan filed a case on June 22 against 24 individuals, including three former CECs - Kazi Rakib Uddin Ahmed, K M Nurul Huda, and Kazi Habibul Awal, for holding farcical elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024. The complainant later added sections of the Bangladesh Penal Code covering sedition, cheating, and embezzlement of government money through a supplementary affidavit on June 25.
The other accused in the case are former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former election commissioners, and various high-ranking officials such as former Inspector General's of Police (IGPs), a former chief of the Special Branch (SB), and a former chief of National Security Intelligence (NSI).