Mian Arefi, who impersonated US President Joe Biden’s adviser, will be taken into custody by the investigative agency Detective Police (DB) for questioning. For this reason, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Detective) Mohammad Haroon Or Rashid is going to Kashimpur High Security Jail on Tuesday. If necessary, the accused can be interrogated at any gate. A responsible source of DB confirmed this information yesterday.
Mian Arefi was remanded for five days by the DB last Thursday. In the meantime, the news came out that the investigation agency went to jail twice, but the jail authorities did not hand over the accused to the DB. In such a situation today the DB chief is going to jail himself.
Mian Arefi is a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin. His ancestral home is Ullapara in Sirajganj. His real name is Mia Zahidul Islam Arefi. People of the village also know him as Belal.
On October 28, after the general meeting of BNP, he went to the central office of the party in Nayapaltan in the capital that evening. There, he gave a press conference as an adviser to the US president and a member of the Democratic National Committee.
He spoke provocative and hateful words against Bangladesh government with false information. At that time, retired Lieutenant General Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy, BNP leader Ishraq and others were by his side. In this incident, a person filed a case against three people on charges of sedition including ‘criminal breach of trust by false identity’ at Paltan police station. In the meantime, the government has issued a notification approving taking treason charges against Mian Arefi and Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardi. With the approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the investigation is going on by adding the section of the crime of sedition to the case against the two accused in the Paltan police station. The case is being investigated by Detective (DB) Motijheel Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Mian Arefi was arrested at the airport on October 29 while leaving the country. The next day, the court ordered him to be kept in jail until the investigation of the case is over. In the same case, Hasan Sarwardi was arrested from Savar on Tuesday and remanded for 8 days the next day. He is now in DB custody. After the arrest, Mian Arefi’s statement did not match Sarwardi’s statement, and in view of DB’s application, the court granted Mian Arefi’s five-day remand after a virtual hearing.
According to DB sources related to the investigation of the case, after the remand was granted, the DB officials went to Dhaka Central Jail to bring Mian Arefi last Thursday; But the authorities did not hand him over to DB. Last Saturday, DB officials again waited for a long time in the jail to take him into custody. Even that day, the jail authorities did not hand him over to the investigating officer.
However, Kashimpur High Security Jail Senior Jail Superintendent Subrata Kumar Bala told Daily Kalbela that according to the court’s instructions, the investigating officer can take the accused into custody if he wants. However, the investigating officer did not take him into custody until Sunday.
A responsible officer of the DB concerned with the investigation of the case said that the detective chief of the DMP himself will go to jail to bring the accused. Mian Arefi may be interrogated on this day for the purpose of investigation.
