District Detective Branch (DB) police arrested Faruk Hossain, the expelled president of the Lakshmipur district unit of Jubo Odhikar Parishad, on Monday night after an audio recording allegedly featuring him demanding money while invoking the name of Nurul Haque Nur, president of Ganodhikar Parishad and state minister for expatriates’ welfare, went viral on social media.

The following day, a case was filed against Faruk at Lakshmipur Sadar Police Station on charges of extortion and defamation, seeking 10 crore taka in damages.

Solaiman Chowdhury, former general secretary of the Lakshmipur district unit of Ganodhikar Parishad, filed the case around 3:30pm. Faruk was named as the accused, while several others were listed as unidentified accused.

Solaiman said the alleged demand for money in Nur’s name had damaged the reputation of both Nur and the organisation.

“The audio spread on social media and sparked discussion across the country. It caused 10 crore taka in reputational damage to Nur. That is why I filed the case,” he said.

Mohammad Wahid Parvez, officer-in-charge of Lakshmipur Sadar Police Station, confirmed the arrest.

“Faruk has been arrested in the case. The DB police are investigating the matter,” he said.

In the audio recording circulated on social media, Faruk can allegedly be heard asking a person planning to travel abroad for money to cover the initial costs of passport processing, visa arrangements, police clearance and a BMET card.

A party source said he demanded five lakh taka for the services.

Following the circulation of the audio, the central committee of Jubo Odhikar Parishad expelled Faruk from all organisational positions on Monday night.

In a notice signed by the organisation’s central office secretary Naim Hossain, the organisation said it had received allegations that Faruk was involved in activities violating organisational discipline and its policies. The decision was taken on the instructions of central president Nadim Hasan and general secretary Muntazul Islam.

Nur addressed the allegation in a Facebook post.

“There is no opportunity to get away with fraud by using my name. The accused has already been expelled from the organisation, and the superintendent of police in Lakshmipur has been asked to take legal action,” he wrote.

Faruk, however, denied the allegations and claimed that a local group had used artificial intelligence technology to edit his voice and fabricate the recording.

He said he had not demanded five lakh taka but had asked for 5,000 taka to arrange a passport. He claimed the reference to “five thousand” had been manipulated to make it sound like “five lakh” in the recording.

Jubo Odhikar Parishad central general secretary Muntazul Islam said the organisation had listened to the recording and conducted an initial verification before deciding to expel Faruk following discussions at the central level.