B'desh court sends journalist to jail over govt 'overthrow plot'

Dhaka, Dec 8 (PTI) A Bangladesh court on Monday sent Shaukat Mahmood, a senior journalist and former president of the National Press Club, to jail over charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Mahmud was arrested late Sunday on charges of his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in connivance with a foreign intelligence agency, police said.

"He was produced before the court, but as the case's main documents were not available immediately, the court ordered him to be kept in jail until Thursday," Dhaka police's deputy commissioner Mia Mohammad Ashis Bin Hasan told reporters.

He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana would hear a police petition seeking his remand in custody for interrogation on Thursday.

According to police, Mahmood and several unidentified individuals allegedly acted in collusion with one Enayet Karim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-born US national currently in jail, and they held secret meetings with different politicians and influential businessmen.

The accused planned protests and instigated activities aimed at damaging government property and toppling the government.

Chowdhury was earlier arrested on September 13 as he was “found moving suspiciously” in a Prado SUV in the Minto Road area, where the advisers, effectively ministers, live. PTI AR ZH ZH