'Top criminal' Bappi, aide sent to jail after remand; police cite 'important information'

Highlights

• Firearms recovered during raids after July 17 arrests
• Extortion case linked to Motijheel cattle market

A Dhaka court today (31 July) sent alleged top criminal Tanim Reza Bappi, 46, and his associate, Md Rakibul Islam Bhuiyan Rizon, 35, to jail after the completion of their remand in an Arms Act case filed with Motijheel Police Station.

Police told the court that the two suspects had disclosed important information during interrogation, which investigators are now verifying as part of the ongoing investigation.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ashraful Haque passed the order after police produced the two accused before the court following the completion of a five-day remand.

Investigation officer Sub-Inspector Md Mohiuddin Masum of Motijheel Police Station sought an order to keep the accused in custody after the remand ended.

In the remand application, the investigating officer said the suspects had been questioned in accordance with legal procedures and Appellate Division directives. During interrogation, they allegedly disclosed important information relevant to the case, which is now being verified.

The application further argued that granting bail could hamper the investigation and allow the accused to abscond. The court subsequently ordered that both men be sent to jail.

Earlier, on 18 July, another court granted police a seven-day remand for Bappi and Rizon in connection with an extortion case involving a businessman.

The two were arrested on 17 July from separate locations near Hotel Purbani in Dhaka and North Kamalapur.

Acting on information obtained during the operation, police later raided Bappi's office in South Kamalapur and recovered a foreign-made revolver, two foreign-made pistols, five rounds of revolver ammunition, two rounds of pistol ammunition, two magazines, an electric stun gun and a Chinese-made axe.

According to the extortion case, businessman Ismail Hossain, who had leased a temporary cattle market beside Brothers Union Club in Motijheel, received a WhatsApp call on 15 May while he was in AGB Colony.

The caller allegedly demanded Tk10 lakh in extortion and pressured him to appoint a nominated individual as a partner in the cattle market, threatening to kill him if he refused.

The complaint further states that on the morning of 19 May, while Ismail was attending a meeting related to the cattle market, his nephew informed him that unidentified assailants had opened fire at his office.

The following day, Ismail filed the extortion case with Motijheel Police Station.

Police later filed the Arms Act case after recovering locally made and foreign firearms during the operation against the two accused.