Bangladesh : Yunus’s party leader and advisor to the government arrested with accomplices for extortion as public resentment grows

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, July 28, 2025

There is an adage that says ‘every revolutionary ends up as heretic’. The unimpeachable truth of the adage is borne out by the arrest of an advisor to Md Yunus’s illegitimate government in Bangladesh with his accomplices on charge of extortion. At a time when public resentment against the failed interim government is deepening all over the Bangladeshi hillscape , the arrest of the so-called ‘advisor’ has further fuelled the resentment among people. Sources from across the border said that on July 17 the ‘advisor’ to the government on private universities Abdur Razzaq Riyad ,accompanied by accomplices Ibrahim Hossain, Saqadaun Siyam and Sadman Sadab had gone to the residence of Shammi Ahmed , former Awami Leaguge woman MP, in Gulshan area of Dhaka in the morning and demanded an amount of Rs 1 crore as ‘protection money’ , threatening the MP and her husband that unless the money was paid they would be arrested.

Despite initially expressing inability to pay the amount asked for the MP Shamim Ahmed and her husband Siddiq Abu Jafar handed over Rs 10 lakhs from their savings and another Rs 10 lakhs by borrowing from Jafar’s brother in law. But the settlement was temporary as the extortionist gang said they would come again for the remaining Rs 40 lakhs over which a settlement had been made. As anticipated well in advance the gang of four arrived in Shamim Ahmed’s residence on July 26-that is, last Saturday. But a police contingent waiting there upon prior information from the house-owners arrested all four and took them to Gulshan police station .

The matter came up for hearing yesterday in the metropolitan court and the additional metropolitan court judge Haquim Zianur Rahaman listened to the arguments of the prosecution and sent all four to a week’s custody for interrogation . Significantly , the public prosecutor representing the government described the nabbed four as ‘black sheeps’ and later told media that the case would be pursued in all seriousness.

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