High Court rejects Chinmoy Das’s bail in lawyer Alif murder case

The High Court has rejected the bail application for Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari (Chandan Kumar Dhar), spokesperson for Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagran Jote, in the murder case of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif in Chattogram.

However, the court has fixed Monday for bail orders in the other four cases against him.

On Sunday, the bench of Justice KM Zahid Sarwar and Justice Sheikh Abu Taher issued the order, dismissing an earlier rule on the matter.

The hearing on the rule issued regarding the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) leader Chinmoy in five separate cases, including on a charge of murder, concluded last Thursday. Lawyer Apurbo Kumar Bhattacharya represented Chinmoy that day. After the hearing, the court fixed Sunday for the order.

Chinmoy was granted bail by the High Court on Apr 30 last year in a sedition case filed for insulting the national flag. But after that, he was shown arrested in five cases, including the murder of a lawyer. Then the High Court issued a rule on his bail in these cases on Sept 1 last year.

He was finally granted bail on Apr 16 this year in a case filed almost three years ago by BNP leader Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin.

According to the case records, on Oct 31, 2024, Firoz Khan, general secretary of the BNP in Chandgaon Mohra Ward, Chattogram, filed a case against Chinmoy and 19 others at the Kotwali Police Station on charges of sedition. Chinmoy was arrested in that case on Nov 25 of the same year.

The next day, on Nov 26, he was produced before a Chattogram court. When the court rejected his bail application and ordered him to be sent to jail, Chinmoy’s followers launched a protest on the court premises demanding his release and blocked the path for a vehicle from taking him to jail. Things turned violent and in the subsequent clashes, lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was beaten and hacked to death.

Alif‍‍`s father later filed a murder case over the incident.

In addition, four more cases were filed for attacks on police, obstruction of government work, attacks on lawyers and trial seekers, and detonation of improvised explosives. Chinmoy is currently in jail after being shown arrested in these cases.