Tahsif Sauri Killing: Prosecution Suspects Hasina Escape Video Link, Dip Placed on Four-Day Remand

Former air force officer Tahsif Sauri may have been killed because he filmed and circulated the video of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina fleeing Bangladesh for India, the prosecution suspects.

State lawyer Azizul Haque Didar raised the suspicion during a remand hearing on Saturday, October 31, before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Hasib Ullah Pias. After hearing both sides, the court granted four days' remand for accused Ahmed Shahriar Reza Dip.

The investigating officer, Inspector Firoz Uddin of the Tongi river police outpost, produced the accused in court seeking seven days' remand.

The application said initial investigation had produced evidence linking suspect Dip to the killing. It sought seven days' remand on five grounds, including uncovering the core mystery, arguing that if released on bail the accused could abscond and obstruct the investigation.

The accused was produced in court at around 2:15pm and kept in the Dhaka CMM court lockup. At 3:25pm he was brought into the courtroom in handcuffs, wearing a helmet and a bulletproof jacket, which were removed after he was placed in the dock.

The hearing began at 3:26pm when the judge took his seat. Inspector Firoz Uddin argued for remand and prosecution counsel Azizul Haque Didar made submissions in support of the application.

Didar told the court that Tahsif Sauri had filmed Sheikh Hasina's escape and that the video was later released on social media. The victim may have been killed for that reason, he said, and remand was needed to uncover that information and identify others involved.

Defence lawyers Monirul Islam and Mutasim Billah sought cancellation of the remand application. Monirul Islam said the victim and the accused had a six-year family relationship and that the victim's father had never said the accused was involved. He questioned why a former air force officer would go to a drug den at 2am.

Monirul Islam added that the accused was facing a media trial, that he too wanted the truth uncovered, and that the accused had cooperated from the start. He said there was doubt over whether it was murder or suicide, that there were no injury marks on the victim's body, and that the family had not wanted to file a case.

Mutasim Billah said the accused was not involved; if he had been, he would not have stayed at home. He had cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning, and the defence also wanted the real mystery to come out, he said.

After the remand order, as he was being taken out of court, Dip told a relative, 'I am fully strong,' asking him not to worry, before being taken to jail. He was seen smiling several times while being brought in and out of court and appeared composed during the hearing.

Earlier, the PBI had taken Dip into custody for questioning from his Mohammadpur home on Thursday night. With no case filed in three days, he was handed over to river police on Friday night amid discussion over what decision to take. He was shown arrested after Tahsif's father filed a case on Friday night.

The floating body of Tahsif Sauri, discussed as the person who filmed Sheikh Hasina's departure from the country, was recovered by river police from the Rajabari Ghat area of the Turag on Wednesday afternoon. He had gone downstairs on Tuesday evening at Dip's call and left home on his own motorcycle.

Dip had said on Thursday that after eating dinner together at a restaurant, he parted from Tahsif in the Uttara House Building area. That night the PBI detained Dip from his Babar Road home in Mohammadpur. Based on information from him, Tahsif's motorcycle was recovered on Friday morning from the Mazar Bosti area of Tongi. Dip also admitted going with Tahsif at midnight to that area, known as a drug spot, and PBI officers later took him to inspect the Tongi spot on Friday.