Staff Correspondent:

A Chittagong court on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of former Iskcon leader and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilit Sanatan Jagaran Jote Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in five cases, including one filed over the murder of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif.

Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Bakar Siddik delivered the order after a hearing.

Earlier, Chinmoy’s lawyer Apurba Kumar Ghosh filed for bail on medical grounds, citing illness.

Lawyer Apurba said: “Apart from the sedition case, Chinmoy Krishna Das is implicated in five other cases, including for the murder of lawyer Alif and attacks on the police. He has been shown arrested in these cases. We submitted bail petitions in all of them, but the court rejected them after the hearing.”

Chittagong Metropolitan Sessions Court Assistant Public Prosecutor Advocate Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury said: “The defense lawyers applied for bail in five cases filed at Kotwali police station. The prosecution opposed the bail. After the hearing, the court denied the petitions.”

On October 25, 2024, under Chinmoy Krishna Das’s leadership, a large gathering of the Sanatan community took place in Chittagong.

A few days later, on October 31, a sedition case was filed against him for allegedly desecrating the national flag. Eighteen others were also accused in that case.

Later, on November 22, another large gathering led by Chinmoy was held in Rangpur.

Following that, on November 25, Chinmoy Krishna Das was arrested in Dhaka in connection with the sedition case.

The next day, when his bail application was submitted, the Chittagong metropolitan magistrate denied it and ordered him to be sent to jail.

On that day, when the court gave the jail order, clashes broke out between Chinmoy’s followers and law enforcement as well as lawyers in Chittagong.

During the clash, lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was hacked to death outside the court premises.

Following the incident, Alif’s father filed a case with Kotwali police station.