A virtual court in Dhaka today rejected bail petitions of 11 of the 219 returnees from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain who were arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for their alleged involvement in tarnishing the image of the government.

The bail-seekers were Shahidul Islam, Kaisar Hossain, Abed Ali, Md Sayedul, Md Alam, Ashraful Alam, Md Habib, Mirza Azam, Wahed Ullah, Omar Faruq and Faisal Gazi.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Tofazzal Hossain passed the order after their lawyers submitted five separate petitions seeking bails through email, claiming their clients' innocence.

Sub-Inspector Rabindra Nath Roy opposed the bail petitions saying that the accused were directly involved in "tarnishing the image of the government".

After hearing both sides, the magistrate rejected their bails.

The same court on Monday rejected bail petitions of five others accused in the same case.

Earlier on June 4, a total of 219 people returning from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain recently, were shown arrested under section 54 of CrPC.