Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested retired Lt Gen Hasan Sohrawardi on Tuesday in a case filed for treason by resorting to lies in a bid to destabilise the country.
Chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch, Additional Commissioner Harun-Or-Rashid confirmed it. The case was filed with the Paltan police station on 29 October, accusinged Sohrawardi alongside MianZahidul Islam Arefy, who introduced himself as an adviser to US President Joe Biden, and BNP leader Ishraque Hossain.
DB Chief said, “I led the arrest operation.”
Lt Gen (retd) Sohrawardi was picked up from his residence and is now being interrogated in the DB office in the capital's Minto Road, he added.
Earlier on 30 October, a Dhaka court sent MianZahidul Islam Arefy, a self-proclaimed adviser of US President Joe Biden, to jail in the case.
Self-proclaimed Biden advisor Arefy is now in jail.
"Arefy, appearing in a BNP conference on Saturday, claimed that he recommended tUS government to impose bans on the police, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Department of Law and Justice of Bangladesh. He claimed to be in contact with the US President 10-15 times a day and that everyone in the US government is in favor of a caretaker government," read the case statement on 29 October.
Arefy also claimed that he had communicated with the US Embassy and informed the US State Department about the situation in Bangladesh, as stated in the case document.
The plaintiff contended that during the speech, Ishraque Hossain and Hasan Sohrawardi collaborated with Arefy in making false statements, supporting his statements, and inciting BNP leaders and activists to disrupt law and order in the country.
"With the assistance of the other accused, Arefy sowed discord among leaders and activists throughout the country, fostering animosity towards the government. Following Arefy's speech and the circulation of the video, the country's law and order deteriorated significantly," read the case statement.
The plaintiff, a man named MahiuddinSikder from Gopalganj, maintained that by resorting to falsehoods, the accused, in collaboration with other BNP leaders and activists, committed the crime of treason, thereby destabilising the country while attempting to boost the morale of BNP supporters.
