Staff Correspondent, Dhaka
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has ordered the freezing of bank accounts belonging to 17 individuals associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) Bangladesh, including its former leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, for 30 days.
The directive, issued on Thursday, was sent to various banks and financial institutions in the country. It suspends all transactions from the accounts for one month, according to media reports.
The 16 others are Kartik Chandra De, Anik Pal, Saroj Roy, Sushanta Das, Biswa Kumar Singha, Chandidas Bala, Jaydev Karmakar, Lipi Rani Karmakar, Sudhama Gaur Das, Laxman Kanti Das, Priyatosh Das, Rupan Das, Rupan Kumar Dhar, Ashish Purohit, Jagadish Chandra Adhikari, and Sajal Das.
The BFIU also requested detailed account information from the banks, including account opening forms, KYC forms, and transaction histories from the beginning, for all businesses owned by these individuals.
The information must be provided within three working days.
This action follows the recent arrest of Chinmoy, spokesperson for the Sanatan Jagaran Jote.
On October 25, following a rally at Laldighi ground in Chittagong, he and 19 others were accused of sedition for allegedly disrespecting Bangladesh's national flag by hoisting a saffron flag above it, leading to a case filed at Kotwali police station on October 30.
The case was filed by local BNP leader Firoz Khan, who was later expelled from the party over the matter.
Chinmoy was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Monday.
The following day, he was presented before a Chittagong court, where his bail plea was rejected, and he was sent to jail.
Supporters of Chinmoy protested his arrest, blocking the prison van for about two and a half hours.
Police eventually dispersed the crowd using sound grenades and escorted Chinmoy to jail.
During the chaos, lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was severely injured near the Rangam Convention Hall.
He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
These developments have triggered calls to ban Iskcon in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Iskcon has distanced itself from Chinmoy, emphasizing that he has not represented the organization for a long time.
