Bangladesh arrests prominent economist Abul Barkat

DHAKA: The Detective Branch (DB) of the Bangladesh police arrested the country’s renowned economist Abul Barkat in a midnight search on Thursday on corruption charges, a DB official said on Friday.

“We have arrested Abul Barkat as an accused in an ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) case”, Nasirul Islam, Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB), told ANI over the phone. “We will handover him to ACC”, he added without details.

Abul Barkat was the chairman of the state-owned Janata Bank during Sheikh Hasina’s regime. A case was filed against 30 people, including Abul Barkat, during the Awami League era, for embezzling crores of taka through loan fraud by a company called Anontex, local media reported.

Professor Dr. Abul Barkat has been arrested by the Bangladesh authorities — his only “crime”? Speaking up for minorities and exposing land grabs and attacks on Hindus by extremists. Is defending human rights now a punishable offense in Bangladesh? #HumanRights #Bangladesh @hrw pic.twitter.com/1U2RMap7Cy

— Save Bangladeshi Hindus (@SBHPage) July 11, 2025

“Last night, 20/25 people, posing as DB police, entered my father’s bedroom and took him away. They did not show any warrant copy. We are ready to fight the case brought against him legally”, Abul Barkat’s daughter Aruni Barkat said.

“We could know about the case from media reports. No one told us about the case. No one came to investigate. If they had come to investigate, we would have definitely cooperated”, she added. “My father taught at Dhaka University for 40 years. He was a freedom fighter. My mother was also a teacher. I saw my father only doing good for people. We are disappointed that he was arrested without any investigation”, Aruni Barkat, also a teacher of Dhaka University, said. “We will cooperate any investigation by ACC”, she said.

On June 28, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, Minority Unity Front, and Bangladesh Puja Celebration Council held a protest in front of the Dhaka Press Club and across the country.

The speakers emphasised that an inclusive, secular Bangladesh was created in 1971 through the Liberation War. However, they stated that communal forces, both domestic and foreign, are now using the interim government as a cover to persecute religious and ethnic minorities.

This includes looting their homes, vandalising places of worship, attacking them on false religious grounds, and filing lawsuits against minority leaders across the country. They called this a major challenge to communal harmony and urged all progressive, non-communal social, political and cultural groups to unite against these forces. (ANI)