Dhaka Court Grants Four-Day Remand for Haridas Chandra in Money Laundering Case
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A Dhaka court has granted a four-day remand for Haridas Chandra, a man who recently gained public attention for initiating the construction of an 81-foot-tall Lord Ram statue in Gaibandha’s Palashbari. Chandra was taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Sunday night and subsequently named in a money laundering case filed at Uttara West Police Station.
The investigative officer, Inspector K.M. Rakibul Huda of the Detective Branch (DB), produced Chandra before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Monday, requesting seven days of interrogation. Authorities argued that preliminary investigations uncovered evidence of illicit financial transactions involving both local and foreign currency through illegal hundi channels. Financial records from various bank accounts and mobile financial services linked to the suspect reportedly reveal significant sums of money, the origins of which remain under scrutiny. Prosecutors contend that Chandra allegedly exploited religious sentiments to facilitate money laundering, necessitating a custodial interrogation to identify potential accomplices and international links.
In court, defense counsel Shyamal Kumar Ray vehemently denied the allegations, characterizing the case as a politically and religiously motivated attempt to impede his client’s charitable work. The defense argued that Chandra’s only “offense” was the construction of a temple visited by thousands of devotees, asserting that the money laundering charges were fabricated to create communal friction.
Responding to the charges from the dock, Chandra defended his actions, describing himself as a former farmer who now oversees the temple. He questioned the legal basis of his detention, asking the court if accepting donations from devotees for religious purposes constituted a crime. He maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, reiterating that he had not engaged in any illicit transfer of funds.
The state prosecutor, Kabir Hossain, dismissed the defense’s claims as groundless, insisting that the government possesses concrete evidence of large-scale financial irregularities. After hearing arguments from both sides, Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Ripon Hossain granted the four-day remand, allowing police to continue their investigation into the source of the funds and the underlying financial network.
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