Ctg Correspondent

A Chattogram court has granted a seven-day remand for Chandan Das, the prime accused in the lawyer Saiful Islam Alif murder case, and a five-day remand for Ripon Das, another accused arrested in the case.

Metropolitan Magistrate Kazi Shariful Islam passed the order this afternoon (6 December) after hearing a plea from police who sought 10 days each to grill both suspects.

Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) Deputy Commissioner (Crime) Rois Uddin confirmed the development.

Both accused were presented before the court under tight security measures. Law enforcement agencies ensured heightened vigilance across the court premises and surrounding areas from the early hours of the day.

After the remand order was issued, several lawyers at the court premises raised slogans demanding the death penalty for the accused and called for a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon).

According to police, Chandan was arrested from Bhairab Junction early on Thursday (5 December). He was handed over to CMP later in the day. Ripon was apprehended from the Anwara upazila of Chattogram on Thursday evening.

Footage from the viral video of Saiful’s murder on 26 November showed Chandan wearing an orange t-shirt, black pants, and a helmet as he attacked the lawyer with a knife. Ripon, wearing a blue shirt and holding a fish knife, was also seen in the video but is not listed as an original accused in the FIR.

With these arrests, police have so far arrested or detained 11 individuals in connection with the high-profile murder.

The incident traces back to 25 November when former Iskcon leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was detained by the Detective Branch (DB) of police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. He was later shown arrested in a sedition case filed at Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram. The next day, he was denied bail and sent to jail.

While Chinmoy was being transported to prison in a van, his followers blocked the vehicle and staged a three-hour protest. Law enforcement intervened using batons and sound grenades to disperse the demonstrators. During the ensuing chaos, clashes erupted between law enforcement personnel and Chinmoy’s followers.

In the aftermath, lawyer Saiful was brutally attacked and killed in an alley near the Rangam Convention Hall, located on the opposite side of the Chattogram court premises. This triggered additional clashes, vandalism, and disruption of police operations in the area. Police later filed three cases in response to the violence.

On 30 November, Saiful’s father filed a murder case naming 31 individuals, while his brother Khan-e Alam filed another case under the Explosives Act against 116 people for vandalism and assault.

The killing of Saiful and subsequent unrest have drawn widespread attention, highlighting tensions surrounding the arrest of Chinmoy, who is also the spokesperson of Hindu organisation Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote.