The High Court (HC) on Wednesday sought Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) probe report on Jahlam, who passed three years in jail whereas the real accused was at large.
The ACC will have to submit the report in the HC by May 2, according to the order.
While hearing on a Suo Moto rule, the High Court asked ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan to submit the progress report in case of the probe committee’s failure to complete the investigation by May 2.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told the court that a committee formed by the ACC was conducting the probe into the incident of Jahlam; but the committee has not yet submitted the report to the commission.
The court then said that it would look into who were responsible for the imprisonment of Jahlam.
The High Court bench of Justice F R M Nazmul Ahasan and Justice K M Kamrul Kader fixed May 2 for further hearing on this issue.
Meanwhile, Jahlam, who was released from jail on February 4, appeared in the High Court bench for submitting his statement in the morning as per its April 10 order.
But the judges did not hear his statement as the relevant file of the case was not produced in the bench.
A court official informed the judges that the file of the case was still pending with another High Court bench. Advocate Amit Das Gupta appeared in the court for Jahlam.
The High Court on April 10 asked Jahlam to appear before it on April 17 for his statement about his sufferings in jail and to know how he is passing his days.
The ACC filed 33 cases against innocent Jahlam after identifying him as Abu Salek, the real accused on the charge of misappropriating Tk 18.5 crore from Sonali Bank’s Cantonment Branch. Later the ACC arrested Jahlam on February 6, 2016.
Recently, different media outlets reported that Jahlam was wrongly accused, after which the ACC investigated the matter further. Then the commission found the claim to be true.
On January 28, the HC bench issued a Suo Moto rule following a report published in a Bengali daily on the day under the headline “Wrong accused in jail in 33 cases : Sir, I am Jaha Alam, not Salek.” After hearing, the HC on February 3 directed the jail authorities to release Jahlam. After the HC order, he was released from prison on February 4.
