Dhaka (Bangladesh): Investigators questioned the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in an extortion case on Friday, a day after he was arrested over corruption allegations, an official said.
Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, was detained by the army-led security forces Thursday, said his lawyer, Nowshad Zamir.
Rahman was then charged with extorting 10 million takas or $147,000 from a construction company in the capital, Dhaka, the lawyer said.
An investigator, who cannot be identified under local briefing rules, said the alleged crime occurred last year when Zia was still the country's prime minister.
A Dhaka magistrate on Thursday granted police four days to question Rahman, his lawyer said.
Rahman, a senior leader of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has been widely seen as a potential successor to the prime minister's job.
Five other politicians, also detained on Thursday, were sent to jail under the country's emergency rules that allow arrests without showing cause.
Law Adviser Moinul Hussein had said the government was targeting those accused of graft.
Zia joined politics herself after her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, was slain in a 1981 military coup. She ended her five-year term in October and handed over power to an interim government to prepare for parliamentary elections.
But violent street protests erupted when a political alliance led by Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister and fierce Zia rival, demanded the caretaker administration revamp the election commission, update and correct voting rolls, and remove disputed election officials.
President Iajuddin Ahmed imposed a state of emergency January 11. National elections that were scheduled for January 22 were postponed because of the political unrest, in which 34 people died. No new election date has been set.
In recent weeks, security forces have arrested more than 60 politicians, including 13 former ministers. Most of the detainees belong to the country's two major political parties - the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League.
Transparency International, a Berlin-based global corruption watchdog, has named Bangladesh one of the world's most corrupt nations.
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