Salman questions case filing delay, urges Home Minister to stay above political bias
Popular actor and content creator Salman Muqtadir on Sunday rejected Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed’s remarks, saying he stayed at Cantonment police station until 4 am to file the case over vandalism of his BrownFish Studio in Dhaka’s ECB Chattar area, and urged Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed to remain impartial in dealing with the incident.
“You don’t even know, though you are the Home Minister under whom all of the police stations are, that I have filed a case application…I was at the Cantonment Police Station till 4am in the morning with a lot of people after the vandalism, and till this noon I couldn’t file a case until the issue went viral and until your statement came,” Salman said in a video posted on Facebook.
His comments came shortly after Salahuddin, at a press briefing, questioned Salman’s allegation that the studio was vandalised over extortion and asked whether he had filed a case.
“My question is, has the person who is making this allegation live on Facebook filed any case? No… If he files a specific case, we can investigate that,” the minister said.
Salman’s BrownFish Studio was vandalised and looted late Saturday, prompting him to go live on Facebook and show the damage.
He 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.
Salahuddin, however, questioned Salman’s allegation that the studio was vandalised over an extortion demand.
“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.
He said Salman was free to express his views, but police needed specific allegations against identifiable individuals to investigate an extortion claim.
Responding to the minister, Salman questioned his comments about the alleged involvement of BNP-linked men.
“Have you taken on the duty of the PR management of BNP or the role of the Home Minister? I am confused,” he said.
“The safety and security of every citizen of Bangladesh falls under your jurisdiction. And you have to be beyond every biased decision. That’s how big of a responsibility you have,” Salman said.
He also said police had arrested three people whom, he claimed, others had described as being linked to the BNP.
He said the incident occurred in the prime minister’s constituency and involved the studio of one of the country’s prominent content creators, making it a major incident.
Police, however, said the incident stemmed from a land dispute rather than an extortion demand.
According to police, the dispute involved New Gini Properties Ltd and the owner of a neighbouring plot, and BrownFish Studio was not specifically targeted.
Citing a preliminary report, Salahuddin said people acting on behalf of a retired military officer went to the property at night in an attempt to take possession of it and subsequently vandalised the premises, including Salman’s content production studio.
“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,” the minister said.
Salman also questioned the minister’s description of the incident as “minor vandalism”, asking whether the authorities understood its broader implications for freedom of art and culture.
“Just show me some action. I don’t need money and I don’t want it to be a political issue,” Salman said.