A Dhaka court on Thursday granted bail to Mohammad Sarwar Alam, an assistant programmer at Bangabhaban, in a case filed over the alleged hacking of Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman’s X account.
Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Awlad Hossain Mohammad Junaid passed the order on a Tk5,000 bond.
Earlier, police produced the accused before the court and sought an order to keep him in jail. According to the petition, the accused had been kept in DB custody in the interest of the probe and after consulting higher authorities.
Preliminary interrogation found initial evidence supporting the allegations, while the digital devices allegedly used in the offence are undergoing forensic examination, police said in the plea, and sought detention to ensure a proper investigation.
Sarwar Alam was detained by police on early Wednesday (4 Feb) over allegations of hacking Shafiqur’s X account and was later taken into DB custody.
He was subsequently arrested in the case.
According to the case statement, Assistant Programmer at the President’s Office Mohammad Sarwar Alam, along with 15–20 unidentified individuals, allegedly hacked the official X account of Jamaat Ameer Shafiqur around 5:00pm on 31 January.
The hackers reportedly posted an unwanted message from the account that contained misogynistic, obscene and hateful content, including incitement to ethnic violence and unrest.
On Wednesday (4 Feb), Jamaat’s Election Steering Committee member Md Sirajul Islam filed a case under the Cyber Security Ordinance with Hatirjheel Police Station in the capital over the incident.