Police have secured seven days to question Abu Bakar Siddique in custody after his arrest over a Facebook comment apparently suggesting a “sniper attack” on a bus used during Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to Rajshahi.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque granted the remand on Sunday, prosecution Sub-Inspector Shah Alam said.
Responding to the judge during the remand hearing, Abu Bakar said: “I made the comment as a joke.”
The suspect is a second-year honours student at New Government Degree College in Rajshahi.
The Special Response Battalion (SRB) detained Abu Bakar from his home in the Kachuatail area under the jurisdiction of Paba Police Station in Rajshahi late on Wednesday night.
Detective police later showed him arrested in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
He was sent to jail on Friday.
On the same day, Sub-Inspector Yasin Paik of the Detective Branch’s Cyber and Special Crime Division, the investigating officer in the case, sought seven days to question him in custody. The court fixed Sunday for the hearing in the presence of the suspect.
Abu Bakar was produced in court for the hearing on Sunday.
Yasin argued in favour of the remand petition. At one point, the judge asked the investigating officer about the suspect’s identity.
“We have not found any political affiliation. Information can be obtained by questioning him in custody,” Yasin said.
The judge then asked: “Who is Abu Bakar Siddique?”
Abu Bakar, standing in the dock, raised his hand. The judge asked whether he had a lawyer, and he said he did not.
Prosecutor Muhammad Shamsuddoha Sumon argued for the remand, saying: “Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was visiting Rajshahi. He visited different puja pavilions by bus. During the prime minister’s visit to Rajshahi, the accused made a comment about a sniper on a post.”
“This cannot simply be dismissed as an ordinary social media post. There is a conspiracy to assassinate the prime minister.
“Seven days in remand are necessary to question him about who else may be involved and about the sniper.”
The judge then asked Abu Bakar why he had made the comment.
“I made the comment casually. I had no intention. I made it as a joke,” Abu Bakar replied.
“Does anyone make such a comment involving a very important person and such a sensitive issue?” the judge asked.
“I made a mistake,” Abu Bakar said.
The court subsequently granted police seven days to question him in custody.
Tarique Rahman arrived at Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi on a military aircraft around 3pm on Oct 20.
He entered the city from the airport aboard a bus belonging to Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET).
People and political activists lined both sides of the road to greet him. The prime minister waved back at them from the moving bus.
He later travelled on the same bus to attend a rally at the historic Madrasa Maidan. After visiting a temple for Durga Puja, he returned to Shah Makhdum Airport on the same bus.
Meanwhile, a Facebook page named “The Beauty of Rajshahi” published a photo of the bus used during the prime minister’s visit.
The caption read: “I understand everything, but where is our prime minister’s red-and-green bulletproof bus in Rajshahi? Why is he travelling on a RUET bus? Do you Rajshahi residents know?”
An account named Md Abu Bakar Siddique commented on the post: “Ah! There was a big opportunity. The only thing missing was a sniper.”
The comment sparked discussion after it spread across social media.
Following the incident, Sub-Inspector Manik Hossain of the DB’s Cyber and Special Crime (North) Division filed a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act with Ramna Police Station in Dhaka.