Bangladeshi-origin US citizen Enayet Karim Chowdhury fell sick and collapsed onto the dock of a Dhaka court on Sunday soon after hearing an order placing him on a four-day remand.
Judge Md Sabbir Faiz of the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court passed the remand order in a case filed against former inspector general of police Benazir Ahmed on charges of laundering Tk 11.34 crore.
聽The order was issued after Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Md聽 Hafizul Islam, the investigation officer of the case, produced him before the court seeking five days to interrogate him.
Witnesses said that as soon as the judge announced the remand order, Enayet Karim fell ill and collapsed onto the bench in the dock.
However, shortly afterward, Enayet stood up and told the court that he was feeling well. Later, he was taken into the court custody with the support of police personnel.
Earlier, Enayet was shown arrested in the graft case following a petition submitted by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
In the remand prayer, the investigation officer stated that Enayet had assisted former IGP Benazir Ahmed and his family in laundering over Tk 11.34 crore abroad.
No defence lawyer was present in the court to represent Benazir Ahmed and his family, said ACC public prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam.
The commission filed the case on February 20, accusing Benazir, his wife Zeeshan Mirza, and their daughters Farhin Rishta Binte Benazir and Tahsin Raisa Binte Benazir of laundering Tk 11.34 crore.
According to the case statement, the family prematurely encashed several FDRs without showing the legitimate sources of the funds and allegedly syphoned the money abroad.
The case noted that the funds were amassed through corruption and abuse of power during Benazir鈥檚 tenure as the RAB director general and the police chief.
In December 2024, the ACC authorities also filed four separate cases against Benazir and his family on the charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 74 crore.
Enayet was initially arrested on September 13 under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure at Minto Road in the capital.
He was produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court and sent to jail. Later, he was shown arrested in a case filed with the Ramna police station under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
According to the case statement, during the primary interrogation, Enayet confessed that he came to Bangladesh as an agent of a foreign intelligence agency with the objective of overthrowing the interim government. This claim was initially supported by data found on the seized mobile phones in his possession.
