Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Sunday questioned content creator Salman Muqtadir’s allegation that his studio was vandalised over extortion, saying Salman had himself acknowledged that nobody directly demanded money from him.
“My question is, has the person who is making this allegation live on Facebook filed any case? No,” Salahuddin told a press briefing.
“If he files a specific case, we can investigate that.”
Salman’s BrownFish Studio in Dhaka’s ECB Chattar area was vandalised and looted late Saturday, prompting the content creator to go live on Facebook to document the damage.
Salman alleged that men linked to the ruling BNP carried out the attack following an apparent dispute over an extortion demand involving the landowner of the property where his studio is located.
“The statements that Salman Muqtadir made coming live on Facebook have generated controversy,” Salahuddin said.
“He is saying no one asked him for extortion money, but if they had asked, he would have given it, and again saying BNP is an extortionist party. There is no meaning to this sweeping allegation.”
The minister said Salman was free to express his views, but police needed specific allegations against identifiable individuals to investigate an extortion claim.
Salahuddin nevertheless acknowledged that Salman was a victim of the vandalism.
“And in this incident, he was victimised; that we have seen,” he said.
“We have conducted a preliminary investigation into this; it is very brief, and a more detailed investigation needs to be conducted.”
The attack on BrownFish Studio, located inside the New Gini Properties housing project, took place at around 10:30pm on September 26.
Salahuddin said the site is in Manikdi Namapara under Cantonment Police Station and that the preliminary investigation pointed to a longstanding property dispute.
He described the disputed property as measuring around 35 kathas. An earlier account had put the figure at around 35 decimals.
“One party is a builder — from the report I received, it's New Gini Properties. The other party is a senior retired military officer. This dispute was ongoing between them,” Salahuddin said.
According to the preliminary report, people acting on behalf of the retired military officer went to the property at night in an attempt to take possession of it.
They then carried out extensive vandalism, the minister said.
Salman had a structure on the property where content production work was carried out.
“Among them, the person you mentioned, Salman Muqtadir, had a property there, where probably various content creation work took place as far as I learned, and quite a bit of vandalism occurred there too — I saw this in the video,” Salahuddin said.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Joint Commissioner Mahidul Islam, who visited the scene on Sunday, also said the incident resulted from a land dispute rather than extortion.
He said the dispute involved New Gini Properties Ltd and the owner of a neighbouring plot and that BrownFish Studio had not specifically been targeted.
“There was no incident of extortion. Salman Muqtadir’s studio was not the target,” Mahidul told reporters.
Cantonment Police Station Officer-in-Charge Muhammad Gias Uddin separately said the dispute involved New Gini Properties and a retired major general.
Police said Salman had rented space from New Gini Properties for his studio.
DMP Assistant Commissioner for Cantonment Zone Nazmul Alam also said preliminary findings pointed to a property dispute rather than extortion.
According to police, one side had been unable to gain access to the disputed property and later returned with a group of people who attempted to enter through a gate. Salman’s studio was caught in the subsequent vandalism.
A caretaker who was present during the attack said around 150 people forcibly entered the premises.
Many were wearing face masks and carrying firearms, sharp weapons and locally made weapons, according to the caretaker.
The group vandalised the studio and looted equipment.
Most of the studio’s equipment, CCTV cameras and furniture were either damaged, looted or left in disarray.
Cameras, recording equipment and other production facilities were damaged. Salman’s YouTube Silver and Gold Play Buttons were also reportedly damaged.
No studio employee was reported injured.
Following the attack, several political figures, content creators and other public figures expressed support for Salman on social media and condemned the vandalism.
Salahuddin said police went to the scene after receiving a call through the national emergency service, 999.
Three people were arrested. Police identified them as Mamun, 35, Munna, 29, and Aslam, 30.
Mamun and Munna live in the Bhashantek slum, while Aslam lives in the Majumdar Mor area of Bhashantek, according to police.
“Some evidence has been recovered — bullet casings were found and some local weapons were recovered,” Salahuddin said.
DMP separately confirmed the arrests and recovery of locally made weapons.
The home minister said legal proceedings were underway over the confrontation and attempted takeover of the disputed property.
“A case may be filed very soon. So far, no case has been filed,” he said.
“Since the matter is under investigation and I learned that a case will be filed, further progress will be announced later.”
New Gini Properties Chairman Nazim Uddin Bhuiyan has offered a different account of the underlying dispute, alleging that the incident was a planned attempt to grab the land.
He also alleged that assets worth around 50 crore taka were looted from the housing project.
The competing claims surrounding the land dispute have not been independently established.
In his Facebook video following the attack, Salman showed extensive damage inside BrownFish Studio and linked the vandalism to alleged extortion.
“This is very normal in Bangladesh,” he said while surveying the damage.
Salman argued that entrepreneurs without political connections or powerful backing remained vulnerable.
He directly referred to those responsible as “BNP people.”
“I have never felt stronger than this. I feel the strongest right now,” Salman said.
“Whoever broke this, these BNP people who did this — with your extortion, you can’t take away my dream.”
At one point, he directly addressed Salahuddin. “I have no complaints to you,” Salman said. “Well done.”
Speaking to reporters later, however, Salman said nobody had personally demanded extortion money from him and indicated that his studio might not have been the intended target.
He suggested the violence could have stemmed from a dispute involving the landowner and said the attackers might not even have known that his studio was located there.
Salman said the landowner might have had a dispute with others over an alleged demand for money, although he acknowledged that he did not know what had happened between the parties.
Salahuddin said that without a specific allegation identifying who demanded money, police had no extortion complaint to investigate.
Salman had not filed a case over the alleged extortion as of Sunday, according to the minister.
Police, meanwhile, said a case over the disputed property, confrontation and vandalism was being processed, with further investigation expected to establish the circumstances surrounding the attack.
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