Court remands 2 for 5 days over PM's telephone wire theft

The court has sent two accused arrested in the case of theft of copper wire from the Prime Minister's Office's red telephone connection located in the Secretariat to a five-day remand.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court Judge Md. Hasan Shahadat granted five-day remand to Ranjan Chandra, 26, and Rizakul Islam after the hearing on Friday afternoon.

The investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC), Enjamul Haque, had applied for a seven-day remand for the accused. The court granted a five-day remand after the hearing.

According to investigation sources, during interrogation of Secretariat outsourcing worker Ranjan Chandra, he confessed to stealing copper wire from Building No. 3 of the Secretariat on May 22. He later said that he sold about 8 kg 200 grams of the stolen copper wire to a scrap shop in the Dhaka University area.

Based on the information provided by him, a raid was conducted and Rizaqul Islam was arrested from a scrap shop adjacent to Ekushey Hall. Later, a raid was conducted in a warehouse in the Hossaini Dalan Road area of ​​Old Dhaka and the stolen copper wire was recovered.

Investigators say that an organized gang may be involved in the theft of various important connection wires of the secretariat. Investigations are ongoing to identify and arrest the main leaders of the gang.

Earlier, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited filed a case against unknown persons at Shahbagh Police Station in this incident.