POBNEWS24, Dhaka Dec 21, 2025 : The Bangladesh government has completely rejected the explanation and press note given by the Indian Foreign Ministry on the protest in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi. Dhaka said that how the protesters entered so deep into the diplomatic area is a serious question and the incident has raised concerns about the security of the Bangladesh High Commission.
In a press briefing on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Advisor Md. Towhid Hossain said that the press note given by India on the attack and chaos in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi is not acceptable. There is no room for avoiding responsibility for such an unwanted incident in the diplomatic area. The attempt to attack the residence of the Bangladesh High Commissioner indicates a lack of security.
He also said that if necessary, the issue of reducing the size of Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in India may also be considered.
On the other hand, a statement published on the website of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs gave a different explanation for the incident. Responding to media queries, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that some media outlets are spreading misleading information about the protest in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
Randhir Jaiswal said that around 20 to 25 youth gathered in front of the Bangladesh High Commission on Saturday to protest the brutal murder of Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh and raised slogans demanding security for minorities in Bangladesh. According to his claim, there was no attempt to breach the security perimeter of the High Commission at any stage or a security situation was created.
The Indian government spokesperson also said that India is committed to ensuring the security of all foreign diplomatic missions and establishments located in Indian territory as per the Vienna Convention.
Stating that India is closely monitoring the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, Randhir Jaiswal said that Indian officials are in regular contact with the Bangladesh authorities and India’s deep concern over the attacks on minorities has been conveyed to the Dhaka authorities. It has also been called upon to bring those involved in the murder of Dipu Chandra Das to justice as soon as possible.
It is worth noting that a group of extremist Hindu protesters gathered at the Bangladesh High Commission premises in New Delhi at around 9 pm local time on Saturday. They crossed all the security cordons and appeared in front of the main gate of Bangladesh House, raised various anti-Bangladesh slogans and threatened to kill Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Riaz Hamidullah.
On the other hand, the court has banned ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, including 17 others, from leaving the country in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of contractual irregularities, tender rigging and embezzlement of government funds in the Meghna-Gomti Bridge toll collection.
On Sunday, vacation judge Abdullah Al Mamun of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court in Dhaka passed the order following an application by the ACC.
The other accused in the case are former ministers Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Obaidul Quader and Anisul Haque, former state minister MA Mannan, former secretary MAN Siddique, additional secretary Faruk Jalil, deputy secretary Mohammad Shafiqul Karim, chief engineers Firoz Iqbal and Ibne Alam Hasan, additional chief engineers Aftab Hossain Khan and Abdus Salam, and CNS Limited’s managing director Munir Uz Zaman Chowdhury, directors Selina Chowdhury and Ikram Iqbal.
ACC Assistant Director Tanzil Hasan filed an application in the court. After the hearing, the court granted the application. Earlier, the ACC filed the case as the plaintiff on October 12.
The case alleges that the previous tender to assign the toll collection responsibility to CNS Limited in 2016 was deliberately canceled. Later, a single-source tender was called and a five-year contract was signed after discussions with only CNS. Instead of setting a fixed amount in the agreement, a service charge of 17.75 percent of the total toll collection (excluding VAT and income tax) was set.
According to the ACC, MBEL-ATT, which was responsible for collecting tolls for the same bridge during the period 2010-15, received only Tk 15.58 crore. Later, in the period 2022-25, UDC Construction Limited was given the task of collecting tolls for Tk 67.54 crore, which, when calculated over five years, amounts to Tk 112.58 crore.
On the other hand, CNS collected almost five times more bills during the same period and claimed an additional Tk 67.43 crore by showing the so-called ‘installation of new technology and infrastructure costs’. As a result, the total financial loss to the government amounted to about Tk 309.42 crore.
