Lawyers of singer Asif Akbor have withdrawn the bail petition in a case filed under the ICT Act, police said
Singer Asif’s counsel pulled out the bail petition, General Respiration Officer for Tejgaon police in Dhaka court Tahera Begum told Bangla Tribune on Sunday.
"It is still unclear why the singer withdrew the bail plea," she said.
The court was set to hear on the bail petition in the morning.
On Jun 6, a Dhaka court sent Asif to jail, dismissing police’s appeal for remand and denying bail in the case.
The case statement said that Asif had threatened to kill the plaintiff, musician Shafiq Tuhin, on social media. It further added that Asif had deliberately posted obscene and defamatory statements against the plaintiff.
Earlier in the wee hours of Jun 5, police detectives detained Asif from his office near the Film Development Corporation (FDC) in Dhaka.
Asif was arrested in a case filed with the Tejgaon police by Tuhin.
The case alleges that through an investigative tv show ‘Searchlight’, aired on Jun 1 at Channel 24, Tuhin came to know that Asif Akbar, without any prior permission, sold 617 songs — written composed and sung by various lyricists and artists, including himself (Shafiq).
The case statement also states, as the chairman of ARB Entertainment, Asif earned a huge amount of money through various illegal commercial uses of those songs. Tuhin further mentioned that several hours after seeing the TV report, he highlighted the alleged unauthorised use of songs by other artistes, in a Facebook post.
In response, Asif Akbar reportedly threatened him using abusive language in a comment thread under his post.
“Moreover, on Jun 2, Asif again used profanity during a Facebook live event at his verified FB page, making indecent and slanderous accusations,” the case statement read.
Saying that he would punish Tuhin, Asif provoked his FB followers to resist Tuhin wherever he can be found.
Incited, Asif’s fans and followers gave death threats to Tuhin via social media, the statement alleged.