The High Court on Monday deferred till May 4 the hearing on bail pleas of BNP-backed Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayoral candidate Mirza Abbas in three cases.Two separate HC benches passed the order following time petitions moved by Abbas’s lawyers Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and Joynul Abedin that the BNP leader cannot appear before the court for security reasons.An HC bench comprising Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan deferred the hearing of a bail petition of Abbas in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and fixed the next date of hearing on May 4.Defence lawyer Barrister Ragib Rouf Chowdhury told this to reporters after the hearing.On March 6 last year, ACC filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station against Mirza Abbas and several others for graft allegation in plot allotment.Meanwhile, a one-member HC bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus also deferred the hearing of Mirza Abbas’s bail petitions in two other cases in connection with separate allegations of torching vehicles and bomb explosions in the capital.Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha appointed the one-member bench with Justice Md Ruhul Quddus after the HC bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore on April 15 passed a split order on Abbas’s bail petitions in two two cases.Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique of the HC bench granted Mirza Abbas three weeks’ anticipatory bail in both the cases filed with Motijheel and Paltan police stations, and asked him to surrender before the lower court after the period.Whereas, Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore, summarily rejected his bail petitions and asked him to surrender at once.On April 13, the High Court fixed April 15 for order on the anticipatory bail petitions and asked the police not to arrest or harass Mirza Abbas before an order on his interim bail petitions in the two cases. The court passed the order after Mirza Abbas surrendered before the court seeking interim bails in the two cases.On April 12, Abbas filed separate petitions with the HC seeking interim bails in the cases.On December 28 last, police filed a case against the BNP standing committee member, Mirza Abbas with Paltan Police Station on charge of torching a bus and exploding crude bombs.On January 4 this year, police filed another case with Mothijheel Police Station against Abbas under the Explosive Substances Act.
