Diamond World owner and managing director Dilip Kumar Agarwala has been sent to jail following the completion of a six-day police remand in connection with a case filed over the attempted murder of a student during the July mass uprising. Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md. Zakir Hossain passed the order on Tuesday after the accused was produced in court following two rounds of remand. Helal Uddin, sub-inspector of the court's prosecution department, confirmed the development.
According to court sources, Agarwala was brought to the court under tight security upon the completion of his remand period. The investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector Md. Suman Mia of Uttara West Police Station, formally appealed to keep the accused confined behind bars until the investigation concludes. The court accepted the plea and ordered him to jail. Notably, no defense counsel was present on behalf of the accused during the court proceedings.
Prior to this, Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested Agarwala on October 19 from a residence in the capital's Banani area. On October 20, he was placed on a one-day remand in connection with a money laundering case involving illegal smuggling worth approximately BDT 678.19 crore. Following that remand, he was initially sent to jail on October 21 before being retaken into police custody for interrogation in the student attempted murder case. In total, he was interrogated on remand for six days across two phases.
According to the case statement, student Abdul Jabbar was shot and critically wounded in front of the BNS Center on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway under Uttara West Police Station on August 5, 2024, during the height of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. Jabbar underwent intensive medical treatment until September 26 of that year. After recovering to some extent, he formally filed the attempted murder case at the Uttara West Police Station on March 27 of the following year.
The case names former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasan along with 50 others, besides numerous unnamed individuals. The legal proceedings against influential figures allegedly involved in the brutal crackdown and indiscriminate shooting of student protesters during the historic uprising are being closely monitored across the nation.
