Dhaka, Nov 30 : In spite of facing a severe backlash from Hindus all over the world over the shocking arrest and jailing of Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, the Bangladesh government headed by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has reportedly ordered the country's banks to freeze accounts of 17 people with "interests associated" with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Bangladesh.

Local media in Dhaka reported on Friday that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has ordered the freezing of bank accounts belonging to 17 individuals associated with Iskcon Bangladesh, including its jailed leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, for 30 days.

Reports indicated that the government directive to suspend all transactions from the accounts for one month has been sent to several banks and financial institutions in the country.

Besides Das, who was taken into custody by the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday and jailed a day later, the other 16 Hindus targeted by the Bangladeshi government are Kartik Chandra De, Anik Pal, Saroj Roy, Sushanta Das, Biswa Kumar Singha, Chandidas Bala, Jaydev Karmakar, Lipi Rani Karmakar, Sudhama Gaur Das, Laxman Kanti Das, Priyatosh Das, Rupan Das, Rupan Kumar Dhar, Ashish Purohit, Jagadish Chandra Adhikari, and Sajal Das.

"BFIU's letter said, under the powers conferred by Section 23(1)(c) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2012, orders to suspend for 30 days the transactions of accounts (other than accounts of import and export companies) maintained in the name of ISKCON and its related parties and entities owned by them. given At the same time, BFIU has asked to send the accounting related information of all the accounts, such as account opening form, KYC form, up-to-date transaction statement etc., within the next three working days," reported Prothom Alo, a leading Bengali newspaper in Bangladesh.

Chinmoy Krishna Das, spokesperson for the Sanatan Jagaran Jote, has been accused of sedition by the Bangladeshi authorities for allegedly disrespecting the country's flag by hoisting a saffron flag above it in Chittagong, last month.