Staff Correspondent

A Dhaka court on Friday placed former army officer Maj Gen Ziaul Ahsan on an eight-day remand in a case filed over the death of a shop employee in the capital’s New Market area during the quota reform movement.

Metropolitan Magistrate Arafatul Rakib passed the order after Ziaul, who was relieved of his post in the army, was produced before the court.

The police sought 10 days to grill the accused, while the defence submitted a petition seeking bail along with the cancellation of the remand prayer.

The court, however, allowed the police eight days to interrogate him.

During the hearing, Ziaul said he did not build the secret detention cell dubbed as ‘Aynaghor’.

Claiming that he was also detained there, he said, “I was also kept in Aynaghor for eight days. I was picked up on 7 August…I am innocent.”

The police arrested him on Thursday night from Dhaka’s Khilkhet area in connection with a murder case filed with New Market police station.

On 6 August, Ziaul was detained in dramatic circumstances around midnight after the plane he boarded was brought back from the Dhaka airport runway to the boarding bridge.

He served as the director general of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) from 2022 before he was relieved of his duty.

Ziaul was sued in the case filed with New Market police station over the killing of shop employee Shahjahan Ali, 24, on 16 July.

On 17 July, Ayesha Begum, mother of the victim, lodged the case against some unnamed people.