Bangladeshi singer Asif Akbar jailed for copyright infringement

Bangla singer Asif Akbar on Wednesday was sent to jail after the Dhaka court rejected both remand and bail petitions in a case filed by contemporary lyricist and composer Shafiq Tuhin over copyright issues and threats.

As per a Daily Star report, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Keshab Roy Chowdhury passed the order after Tejgaon police produced Asif before it with a five-day remand prayer.

On the other hand, defense counsel submitted a petition seeking Asif's bail along with the plea for cancellation of the remand prayer.

Akbar had earlier argued that he was falsely implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him and that the charges were fabricated. On basis of this argument, he filed a bail petition.

He was held from his studio in FDC area in Dhaka, around 1:00 a.m. today, Molla Nazrul Islam, special superintendent (organised crime) of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), told The Daily.

Charges were imposed under the Information and Communication Technology Act as it has been ruled by the court that digital copies of several songs without permission of the singers. Also, he said to have issued public threats and demeaned Tuhin on social media platform Facebook via using its feature Facebook Live.

The case was filed with Tejgaon Police Station last Monday.

Along with Asif, five others were held accused.