When Digirescue arrived on Bangladesh's technology scene, it did so with considerable fanfare.

The cybersecurity platform secured a coveted sponsorship as the Official Digital Security Partner at the ETV BIFA Awards this May, and a constellation of social media influencers amplified its promise to protect ordinary citizens from online threats. 

Yet behind the company's rise stands a politically connected figure whose record raises serious questions about accountability.

Abu Sayem Shahin, also known as Abu Sayem Shahin Bepari, serves as Chairman of Digirescue. 

Official records show he is also the Organising Secretary of the Mohammadpur Thana Awami League under Dhaka Metropolitan North City Corporation North. 

Rather than facing lasting consequences from a series of criminal cases and convictions recorded against him over the years, Shahin now finds himself at the helm of a company receiving growing public recognition and institutional endorsement.

According to police records and court documents reviewed for this report, Shahin has faced multiple criminal allegations over the past decade, including firearms offenses, extortion, criminal intimidation, and kidnapping with intent to murder. 

Court records further show that he was convicted earlier this year under the Safe Food Act.

The record stretches back more than a decade. In January 2015, Dhaka Tribune reported that Shahin, then 36 and identified as a leader of the Mohammadpur unit of the Awami League, was arrested near a Prime Minister's rally in the Joykali Mandir area. 

Law enforcement officers allegedly recovered a pistol and 38 rounds of live ammunition from his possession.

The arrest did not appear to derail his political advancement. Official records show him later serving as Organising Secretary of the Mohammadpur Thana Awami League, a position he continues to hold.

In 2020, a first information report filed at Mohammadpur Police Station — FIR No. 34/1016, dated November 6, 2020 — charged Shahin with offenses under the Penal Code of 1860, including unlawful assembly, house-trespass, theft, mischief causing damage, and criminal intimidation. 

A charge sheet was submitted in May 2022, though he was later exempted from that particular case.

The most serious allegations emerged more recently. An FIR filed on October 10, 2024, at Adabor Police Station — GR Case No. 235 — named Shahin as an accused under provisions of the Penal Code relating to kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, extortion by placing a person in fear of death or grievous hurt, and criminal intimidation involving threats of death.

On April 1, 2026, a warrant was issued against Shahin by the Special Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka South City Corporation. Court records show he was convicted under Section 26 of the Safe Food Act, 2013, in CR Case No. 7/26, a judgment that formally designated him a convicted offender in the matter.

Throughout this period, Shahin maintained an active social media presence portraying a life of conspicuous comfort. 

Photographs and check-ins on his personal accounts show visits to luxury resorts in the Maldives and holidays in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. His posts have also included ‘misinformation’ questioning the legitimacy of the July Uprising.

Neither Digirescue nor Shahin responded to requests for comment.

—