A Dhaka court on Thursday placed Sumaiya Zafrin, wife of Major Sadikul Haque, on a five-day remand in a case filed over a "secret meeting" of the Awami League and its banned student organisation, Chhatra League.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefatullah passed the order after Investigation Officer Md Zehad Hossain, an inspector of Detective Branch of Police, produced her before it with a seven-day remand prayer.
In the remand prayer, the IO said Sumaiya was directly involved with the "secret meeting" that took place at a convention centre near the capital's Bashundhara residential area on July 8.
The meeting held from 10:00am to 6:00pm, was attended by 300-400 people from the Chhatra League, Awami League and retired government employees. Sumaiya and her husband were also present there.
They chanted anti-government slogans during the meeting. According to the plan discussed, people from across the country would gather in Dhaka once they receive the instruction from former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
They planned to occupy the Shahbagh intersection, create instability in the country, and spread panic among the public to facilitate Sheikh Hasina's return. Therefore, Sumaiya needs to be placed on remand to extract vital clues about the meeting, the investigation officer said in his remand prayer.
However, the defence submitted an application, seeking bail along with cancellation of the remand prayer on grounds that their client was not involved with the incident.
Claiming innocence, Sumaiya, who was picked up from Mirpur DOHS yesterday evening, told the court that she had no involvement in the incident and was falsely implicated in the case only to harass her. She therefore sought bail and appealed for the remand prayer to be rejected.
Upon hearing both the sides, the magistrate dismissed the bail prayer and placed her on the remand.
Major Sadikul is currently in military custody over his alleged involvement in the same meeting.
At least 27 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Police filed a case with Bhatara Police Station on July 13 over the alleged secret training session.
