Dhaka [Bangladesh], November 25 (HBTV): Chandan Kumar Dhar, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, a former leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was arrested on Monday afternoon at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, The Daily Star reported.

Following the arrest, a section of the Hindu community in Dhaka blocked the Shahbagh intersection late in the evening in protest.

The arrest was carried out by a team of detectives in connection with a case filed in Chattogram, according to Rezaul Karim Mallick, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and chief of the Detective Branch. A sedition case had been filed on October 31 against 19 individuals, including Chinmoy, the former divisional organising secretary of ISKCON in Chattogram, at the Kotwali Police Station.

The case stemmed from an incident on August 25, when Firoz Khan, then general secretary of the Mohora ward of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), filed a complaint alleging that the national flag of Bangladesh was disrespected during a rally of the Hindu community in Chattogram's New Market area. Khan was expelled from the BNP the day after filing the case over "anti-party" activities.

According to the case statement, the incident occurred on October 25, when a group of youths reportedly placed a saffron-colored flag over the Bangladeshi flag on the Independence pillar (Shadhinata Smathamva) at Zero Point near New Market during the "Sanatan Jagaran Mancha" rally organized by the Hindu community.

Meanwhile, after Chinmoy's arrest, hundreds of people from the Hindu community protested at the Cheragi Pahar intersection in Chattogram, demanding his immediate release. A procession was also held in the port city at around 6:00 pm (local time).

Swatantro Gouranga Das Brahmachari, a member of the managing committee of ISKCON Prabartak Sri Krishna Mandir, said, "Chinmoy went to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 3:30 pm to catch a flight to Chattogram. From his personal assistant, I learned that some plainclothes men, introducing themselves as members of the detective branch, picked him up from the entrance of the airport."

"So far, we have information that he was taken to the DB office at Minto Road in Dhaka," he added.  

(ANI)