In a significant legal twist, a Chittagong court in Bangladesh has shown Hindu spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das as arrested in four murder cases, just days after the Bangladesh High Court granted him bail in a sedition case, according to lawyers involved in the case.
Speaking to media, Ashraf Hossain Razzak, General Secretary of the Chittagong Bar Association, confirmed,
“A judge in Chittagong has shown Chinmoy Krishna Das arrested in four cases filed over the murder of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif.”
Saiful Islam Alif, a practicing lawyer at the Chittagong Court, was fatally attacked with sharp weapons on November 26, 2024, during a protest demanding the release of Chinmoy Krishna Das. The spiritual leader was arrested a day earlier, on November 25, at Dhaka Airport, under sedition charges.
The bail granted by the High Court was expected to pave the way for Chinmoy’s release from Chittagong Central Jail, but his lawyer Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee claims that authorities rushed to file murder charges to prevent his release.
“None of Chinmoy’s lawyers could appear in the Chittagong court. The prosecution held the hearing unilaterally,” Bhattacharjee told media.
The High Court bench of Justice Atoar Rahman and Justice Md Ali Reza had ruled in Chinmoy’s favour on the sedition case, which accused him of insulting the national flag of Bangladesh. The court found no clear evidence linking him to any act of sedition, and the rule was made absolute, according to Bhattacharjee.
Despite this, the state quickly appealed to the chamber court, seeking a stay on the bail order—although the court did not issue a stay, it scheduled a further hearing on the matter.
Chinmoy Krishna Das, who is also a former ISKCON leader and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sanatani Jagran Jote, has been a prominent voice for Hindu rights in Bangladesh. His supporters claim the charges are politically motivated and aimed at silencing dissent and spiritual leadership within the Hindu minority.
“There is no police investigation report, even after seven months. The charges are baseless and clearly part of a strategy to keep him detained,” Bhattacharjee said.
The defence team remains hopeful that Das will be released within the week, pending official processing of the High Court’s bail order by the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Court.