Former speaker Shirin Sharmin arrested in Lalbagh murder case
She was arrested between 04:30am and 04:50am from her relative’s residence on Dhanmondi 8/A.
Detectives arrested former parliament speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in Dhanmondi of the capital early this morning (7 April) in a case filed with Lalbagh Police Stateion over the attempted murder of a man named Ashraful.
She was detained between 04:30am and 04:50am from her relative's residence on Dhanmondi 8/A and was taken to the Detective Branch (DB) office in Minto Road, DB Joint Commissioner Nasirul Islam told The Business Standard.
She was arrested over the attempted murder of a man named Ashraful in the Lalbagh Police Station area and will be presented in Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court shortly, confirmed Md Morshed, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the lock-up at the court.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Sources concerned said six cases have been found against her so far.
The authorities are reviewing the cases that have been filed against her, and she will be sent to court in connection with specific charges, Joint Commissioner Nasirul said.
A few of the cases allege her involvement in the clashes during the July Uprising. However, details of the Lalbagh Police Station case could not be obtained immediately.
According to an Inter-Services Public Relations list made public on 22 May 2024, soon after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury took shelter in the cantonment area. The list included the names of 626 individuals – including political figures, judges, civil servants, police officers, and their families – who were granted shelter "purely on humanitarian grounds as law and order deteriorated in the wake of the popular uprising."
Once the situation improved, the majority of those who had taken shelter left the cantonments within one or two days.
According to DB sources, Shirin Sharmin later took shelter at a house in Dhanmondi 8/an area and had been in hiding since then.
DB Additional Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said she has been brought to the DB office and is currently in the agency's custody.
According to official records from the Bangladesh Parliament, Shirin served as speaker from 30 April 2013 to 2 September 2024.
She was first elected to the position on 30 April 2013 and remained in office until her resignation. She was also elected as a member of parliament from Rangpur-6 in the 2014 national election.
On 27 August, a case was filed against Shirin in Rangpur over the death of jeweller Muslim Uddin during the July Uprising.
