On Wednesday (13 May), Chattogram court ordered the transfer of the investigation into the murder of lawyer Advocate Saiful Islam Alif and the violence linked to the denial of bail to ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari from the Detective Branch (DB) police to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).
The order was passed by Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Abu Bakar Siddique on May 13 following a petition filed by the plaintiff seeking a change in the investigation authority.
The brother of slain lawyer Advocate Saiful Islam Alif filed the case. Earlier, the investigation had been assigned to Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohammad Mostafa Kamal of the DB North Division.
According to court sources, the case relates to the unprecedented violence, vandalism and the killing of lawyer Alif that took place on the Chattogram court premises on November 26 after the court rejected the bail plea of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in a sedition case.
Although the DB had been investigating the case for several months, the plaintiff expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of visible progress and sought the replacement of the investigating officer.
Mohammad Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury, a lawyer in the Alif murder case and assistant public prosecutor of the Chattogram Metropolitan Court, told media outlets that the hearing on the petition was held on Tuesday in the presence of the investigating officer.
Following the hearing, the court accepted the petition and directed the PBI to take over the investigation in the interest of a fair and impartial probe, he said.
Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Mostafa Kamal, who had been leading the investigation on behalf of the DB North Division, was present in court during the hearing. Sources said he failed to provide a satisfactory explanation to the court when questioned about the progress of the investigation.
Investigation-related sources said the agency had so far failed to arrest any of the more than one hundred named accused or the 400 to 500 unidentified suspects listed in the case. The court ultimately decided to transfer the probe due to the absence of any significant progress.
On November 26, 2024, Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, also known as Chandan Kumar Dhar, was produced before the Chattogram court after being arrested in a sedition case. The court rejected his bail petition, triggering unrest and violence on the court premises.
Allegations were later made that hundreds of followers of Chinmoy Krishna Das and ISKCON supporters carried out riots, vandalism, cocktail explosions and attacks on government establishments and vehicles in the court area.
During the clashes, Advocate Saiful Islam Alif, a lawyer of the Bangladesh Supreme Court and Chattogram Judge Court, was brutally hacked to death.
A total of five cases were filed over the incident under charges including murder, vandalism and the Explosives Act.
