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| - On November 25, Chinmoy Krishna Brahmachari (formerly Chandan Kumar Dhar), the principal of Pundarik Dham and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sanatani Jagran Jote, was arrested by Detective Branch police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The arrest was linked to a sedition case involving allegations of desecrating the national flag. The following day, November 26, Chinmoy was presented before the Sixth Metropolitan Magistrate of Chattogram (source), Kazi Shariful Islam. His bail application was denied, leading to unrest within the court premises. As Chinmoy was being escorted to a prison van for transport to jail, his followers blocked the vehicle and initiated protests. In response, police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) used batons and sound grenades to disperse the crowd. A group of lawyers joined the police to disperse the protesters. A chase and counter-chase followed. During the clash, lawyer Saiful Islam was hacked to death.
In its report on the incident, international news agency Reuters, citing Chattogram police officer Liaquat Ali (archive link: source), claimed: “A Muslim lawyer supporting (Chinmoy) Das was killed during a protest outside the court in Chattogram.”
Several international media outlets, including prominent Indian platforms, echoed Reuters’ claim. This includes reports by Voice of America, Arab News, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Tribune India, Live Mint, and The Wire.
Beyond Reuters, similar claims were made independently by India Today (via YouTube), Republic (on X), and OpIndia (on X).
On Facebook, posts like this (archive link: here) and this (archive link: here) also circulated the same narrative.
Fact Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that Saiful Islam was not Chinmoy Krishna Das’s lawyer. Instead, Advocate Subhasish Sharma represented Chinmoy in court. Saiful Islam, the deceased lawyer, was an Assistant Public Prosecutor.
A review of Saiful Islam’s Facebook profile (profile link) showed multiple anti-ISKCON posts, including this and this. These posts strongly suggest that he would not represent someone associated with ISKCON. Furthermore, it is worth noting that Chinmoy no longer holds any official ISKCON position. He and several others were expelled from ISKCON Bangladesh in July due to alleged misconduct (report).
The news of lawyer Saiful Islam’s death surfaced in the media on the afternoon of November 26 (source). Earlier that day, a hearing took place regarding the case filed against Chinmoy Krishna Das. A report published on the website of the mainstream online news outlet Bdnews24 (report) shortly before 1:30 PM revealed that Advocate Subhasish Sharma represented Chinmoy Das during the bail hearing.
The media also mentioned another lawyer representing Chinmoy. Swaroop Kanti Nath, one of Chinmoy’s legal representatives, told Bdnews24, “This case is baseless and conspiratorial. Today we filed a bail petition, but it was denied after the hearing.”
Two other prominent outlets, The Daily Star (report) and Prothom Alo (report), also referenced Swaroop Kanti Nath as Chinmoy’s lawyer. However, none of these, or any other media outlets, mentioned Saiful Islam as representing Chinmoy Krishna Das in the case.
To further substantiate this, Rumor Scanner obtained the “Vakalatnama” (legal representation document), which explicitly named Subhasish Sharma as Chinmoy’s lawyer
This confirms that Saiful Islam did not represent Chinmoy Das.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Advocate Enamul Haque (source 1) also clarified that Saiful Islam served in the Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate Court. He added that Saiful was a graduate of the International Islamic University (Source 2) and became a member of the District Bar Association in 2018. Later, Saiful was registered as a High Court lawyer.
After facing widespread criticism, Reuters removed the erroneous claim from its report. The Chattogram Metropolitan Police issued a statement (source) refuting the allegation, clarifying that no journalist had reached out to Deputy Commissioner (South) Liaquat Ali Khan or any other police official bearing the same name.
Conclusion
The claim that Saiful Islam served as the lawyer for Chinmoy Krishna Das is entirely false. Saiful Islam, an Assistant Public Prosecutor, had no involvement in Chinmoy’s defense.
Sources
- BDNews24 – “Jamin Hoyni, Chinmoy Daske Karagare Pathanor Aadesh”
- The Daily Star – “Chinmoy Das Jamin Hearing”
- CMP Official Statement (source)
- Rumor Scanner Analysis
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