A court in Dhaka has ordered the detention of Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, former information adviser to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and chairman of private television channel DBC News, in a murder case over the killing of madrasa student Arif in the capital’s Jatrabari area during the July 2024 uprising.

On Thursday (November 5), Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque passed the order following a plea by the investigation officer, said state prosecutor Mohammad Shamsuddoha Chowdhury.

Sub-Inspector Mohammad Amir Hossain of Jatrabari Police Station, the investigation officer in the case, sought an order to keep Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury in custody.

His lawyer, Chowdhury Md Galib Ragib, did not seek bail but appealed to the court for proper medical treatment and division status in prison.

The defence lawyer told the court that his client is the chief executive officer of DBC News and a senior journalist. He also suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and neurological complications. The lawyer requested that he be granted division status and receive proper medical care in jail.

Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Faruk Faruqi, representing the state, outlined the allegations in the case. He alleged that Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury became the owner of DBC through his close ties with Sheikh Hasina and later served as her information adviser. He also accused him of influencing television licence distribution and controlling the media.

The prosecutor further alleged that during the July uprising, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury took steps to prevent protesters’ statements from being broadcast by the media. He also accused him of bringing television channels under government control and acquiring substantial property in the Gulshan-Banani area.

The defence lawyer argued that Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury had served as information adviser to the former prime minister, a position equivalent in rank to a state minister, and requested that he be given the relevant facilities under the Jail Code.

However, the public prosecutor said no official declaration had been made recognising his position as equivalent to that of a state minister.

The court subsequently ordered his detention in jail, stating that he would receive the facilities to which he was entitled after consideration of all relevant matters.

Earlier, police detained Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury from the office of DBC News in Dhaka’s Mohakhali area on Wednesday afternoon. The channel’s chief crime reporter, Rajib Ghosh, was also taken into custody.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury is also the editor and publisher of The Daily Observer.

Following his detention, DMP Deputy Commissioner for Public Relations Aktar Hossain said an undesirable situation had developed at DBC over the broadcast of a news report. He said Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Rajib Ghosh had been taken into the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of police. However, he did not clarify the nature of the incident.

Later on Wednesday night, police showed Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury arrested in the murder case of madrasa student Arif. However, DMP Detective Branch chief Shafiqul Islam said a decision had been taken to release Rajib Ghosh after obtaining a written undertaking.

According to the case statement, Arif, a first-year Alim student at Lord Hardinge Fazil Madrasa, was shot in the eye during a gunfight between police and Awami League activists on July 19, 2024, amid the July uprising. The incident took place on Boubazar Road in the Kutubkhali area of Jatrabari. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Following the incident, Arif’s father, Yusuf, filed a murder case with Jatrabari Police Station on August 25, 2024, naming Sheikh Hasina and 232 others. Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury is listed as accused number 53 in the case.