Staff Reporter :
A virtual court in Dhaka on Tuesday again rejected bail petition of two officials of JKG Health Care in a case filed over issuing fake Covid-19 certificates.
The accused are Humayun Kabir Himu, a graphic designer of JKG Health Care, and his wife Tanzina Patwary, who also worked for the organisation.
Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka passed the order after their lawyer submitted a criminal appeal through an email against the rejection order of the lower court.
The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on June 24 rejected their bail and sent them to jail after they were produced before it for recording their confessional statements in the case. During today’s hearing, their lawyer told the court that their clients were implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass them. So their bail petition should be granted, the lawyer added.
On the other hand, the prosecution opposed the defence pleas, saying that the couple gave confessional statements before magistrates narrating their involvement in issuing fake Covid-19 certificates. So their bail should be rejected, it said.
Upon hearing both sides, the judge rejected their bail petition.
Earlier JKG Health Chairman Dr Sabrina Arif Chowdhury, her husband JKG Health Care Chief Executive Officer Ariful Chowdhury, and one of their associates Sayeed Chowdhury were sent to jail after being interrogated on different terms of remand in the same case.
Police arrested Sabrina, also a government official, on July 12 around three weeks after the scam came to light.
Following her arrest, the health ministry suspended her from the post of registrar at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases for violating rules.
Earlier on June 24, police arrested her husband Ariful Chowdhury and four others for their alleged involvement in issuing fake Covid-19 certificates.
