Detectives on Friday arrested another student leader for his alleged involvement in extorting money from the Gulshan residence of former reserved seat MP Shammi Ahmed by posing as a coordinator of the ‘Anti-Discrimination Movement.’

With this, the total number of arrestees so far stood at six.

The arrestee Jane Alam Apu is a joint convener of Bangladesh Democratic Student Union.

He was detained by a team of the Detective Branch (DB) from Wari area of the capital on Friday morning.

DB South Joint Commissioner Mohammad Nasirul said Apu was on the run after being accused of demanding Tk 50 lakh in extortion.

Earlier, on July 26, police arrested Md Sakadoun Siam, Sadman Sadab, Md Aminul Islam, Ibrahim Hossain Munna, and Abdur Razzak Riyad from the house for their alleged involvement with the extortion.

Among them, Munna is Dhaka city convenor of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, while Siam and Sadab are also members of the same body.

Student leader among five held for extortion at former MP’s home

Riyad is the acting convenor for the Private Universities Committee under the same platform and a member of the Bangladesh Democratic Student Union.

According to police, the group went to Shammis’s residence on July 17 and demanded Tk 1 crore, threatening to label her a ‘fascist collaborator’ and report her to police if she refused. They even took Tk 10 lakh.

A video of the extortion incident later went viral on social media, showing two men receiving cash in the guest room of a residence.

On Thursday, police recovered cheques worth Tk 2.25 crore and fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) worth Tk 20 lakh from the Tejgaon’s Nakhalpara residence of arrested Riyad.

Riyad has allegedly been constructing a building at his village home Nabipur under Senbagh upazila of Noakhali district, with the money earned from the extortion, though his family denied the allegation, claiming that As-Sunnah Foundation donated the money.