Tawhid Afridi quietly released from jail despite 5 July uprising cases against him!
Tawhid Afridi, a controversial content creator was listed as accused in several July uprising cases. He secretly got out of jail. BSS.
Content creator Tawhid Afridi's role in the July mass uprising was controversial and widely criticised. During the movement, he took a stance in favour of the then Awami League government, whose activities were later banned. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government, he had gone into hiding. Later, he was arrested at Barishal on the night of 24 August, 2025. Since then, until last Wednesday, he had been in prison for nearly 11 months. However, after securing bail in three cases, he was secretly released from jail last Thursday. Yet, despite his name appearing in the FIRs of five other cases related to the July mass uprising, he was not shown as arrested in those cases.
Calling the matter a failure of the police and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan told Agamir Somoy: "Tawhid Afridi is a well-known person, and the police should know how many cases there are against him. But while he was in jail, why was he not shown as arrested? The concerned OC should be held accountable for this."
An investigation revealed that eight cases were filed against Touhid Afridi in connection with the July mass uprising. Of these, he is a named accused in seven cases, except for one filed at Wari Police Station. Among these cases, he was shown as arrested in three separate cases: one of fraud at Wari Police Station, and two of attempted murder at Jatrabari and Badda police stations. However, apart from these three cases, there is a murder case against him at Rampura Police Station and four separate attempted murder cases at Badda, Jatrabari, Mohammadpur, and Banani police stations. Although his name appears in the FIRs of these cases, no initiative was taken to show him as arrested, according to available information.
In this regard, sources concerned said that generally, when an accused in a July uprising case gets bail, the DMP's Prosecution Division is informed. At that time, it is checked whether there are any other cases against that accused. If there are cases, the investigating officer applies to have the accused shown as arrested.
According to that application, a hearing is held in the presence of the accused. If the name is in the FIR, the accused is shown as arrested as per the law. However, despite there being cases against him, this procedure was not followed in Tawhid Afridi's case.
According to court and case documents, on the night of 24 August 2025, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested him from Barishal. The next day, a five-day remand was granted in a murder case filed at Jatrabari Police Station. After the remand ended, he was sent to jail on 30 August. Later, he was shown as arrested in an attempted murder case at Badda Police Station. After the investigation of this case was completed, a recommendation was made for his discharge. Subsequently, on 15 June, Afridi was shown as arrested in a case at Wari Police Station on charges of embezzling money through fraud.
He obtained bail from the High Court in the murder and attempted murder cases. Later, on 4 May, the Appellate Division upheld his bail. Finally, on 21 July, Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam of Dhaka granted him bail in the Wari Police Station fraud case on a bond of Tk 1,000. That day, his lawyer Iqbal Mahmud said that with bail in all cases, there was no longer any legal barrier to Tawhid Afridi's release.
Regarding Afridi's release, the Prison Directorate's media wing said that after verifying the bail bonds in jail, he was released last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Omar Faruk Faruki, Public Prosecutor (PP) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, said that showing an accused as arrested is not mandatory. The matter of arresting an accused depends entirely on the police in the interest of the investigation. However, even if the accused is released, it will not create problems for the investigation, he said.
When asked why no application was made to show him as arrested despite being a listed accused, no information was available from Niaz Mehedi, Additional Deputy Police Commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Media and Public Relations Division, or Mohiuddin Mahmud Sohel, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the DMP's Prosecution Division.
