RAB Raids Helena Jahangir’s Gulshan Residence

The Rapid Action Battalion raided the home of businesswoman Helena Jahangir, who was recently demoted from an Awami League subcommittee due to her affiliation with an unlicensed organization.

“She will be quizzed. Details of the operation will be revealed later,” Imran Hossain, a spokesperson for the RAB, said after launching the raid on the house in Dhaka’s Gulshan on Thursday night.   

Helena, who used to be the president of the IP TV Owners Association of Bangladesh, is a director of the apex trade body FBCCI and the chairperson of Joyjatra TV.

Her membership in the Awami League's women's affairs subcommittee was recently terminated after her identity surfaced on social media as the president of the 'Bangladesh Awami Chakrijibi League,' an organization with no formal ties to the ruling party.

After a ‘Chakrijibi League' post recruiting members went popular on social media, she lost her position as an advisor to the party's Cumilla District Unit, placing the Awami League in a bind.

For the past two to three years, the ‘Chakrijibi League' claims to have been trying to convince the Awami League to accept it as an affiliated organization. Leaders of the Awami League have stated that they have no ties to the organization.

Helena stated that she was not personally associated with the organization. It named her as the new committee's president and announced it on Facebook.

Her old pictures with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and late Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad have resurfaced on social media.

Helena claimed on Facebook that she had taken the images herself and shared them after attending wedding receptions.

Later, she said, “I am actually 100 percent businesswoman and the government’s commercially important person (CIP). I entered politics from that position. I have been a soldier of Bangabandhu since childhood. I need to go to events due to my social obligations. Photos don’t carry the political identity of a person.”