Lawyer Shafiq Nazrul remanded over alleged Facebook scam using Zaima Rahman’s photo

A Dhaka court today (23 June) placed lawyer Shafiq Nazrul on a four-day remand in a Cyber Security Act case filed over allegations of fraud using the photograph of Zaima Rahman, daughter of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, on Facebook.

The court also approved a petition to show him arrested in a separate fraud case filed by the Bangladesh Bar Council.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam passed the order following a hearing this afternoon.

State prosecutor Harun Or Rashid confirmed the matter to reporters.

According to court proceedings, police produced Shafiq before the court in connection with the Cyber Security Act case filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station and sought a seven-day remand for further interrogation. After the hearing, the court granted a four-day remand.

Investigators told the court that Shafiq’s alleged involvement in a Facebook-based fraud network, financial transactions, and the amount of money collected from victims required further investigation through custodial interrogation.

State prosecutor Harun Or Rashid said the accused had allegedly been running fraudulent advertisements on Facebook using photographs of Zaima Rahman and Adiba, the daughter of the attorney general. 

According to the case statement, Shafiq operated a Facebook page titled “LAW DOCTOR”. The page allegedly used Zaima Rahman’s photograph to promote advertisements claiming to provide “100% common questions”, guaranteed success in the Bar Council examination, and special coaching facilities.

The complaint states that many candidates contacted him after seeing the advertisements. He allegedly collected money in the name of various coaching centres and later promised to ensure their success in the Bar Council examination in exchange for large sums of money.

However, after receiving the payments, he reportedly failed to provide the promised services and repeatedly delayed matters with various excuses.

Investigators further alleged that the accused collected substantial amounts of money from several individuals by promising to secure Bar Council certificates for them.

Following multiple complaints from alleged victims, authorities launched an investigation. 

Police said preliminary findings supported the allegations of fraud, leading to his arrest.