Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Sunday granted bail to suspended Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury in the former Finance Minister Shah A M S Kibria murder case.
The HC Bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan passed the order following a petition filed by Ariful.
The case was filed under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 in connection with the killing of the former Finance Minister.
Barrister Mainul Hosein represented Ariful in the court while Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Mohamamd Bashirullah stood for the State.
Barrister Mainul Hosein told journalists that two cases were filed against Ariful in connection with the Kibria’s murder. Ariful was granted bail in the murder case earlier.
Now he was granted bail in the case filed under the Explosive Substances Act. So there is no barrier for him to walk out of jail. But the DAG said the government will move a petition before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the HC order of the bail.
If the HC order reaches the jail authorities before the apex court passes any order on the government’s stay petition, Ariful will get released from jail, the DAG said.
Five people, including Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack on a public rally of local Awami League at Baidder Bazar in Sadar upazila of Habiganj district on January 27, 2005.
After the incident, Awami League leader Abdul Mozid Khan, MP filed two cases — one for murder and another under the Explosives Substances Act — with Habiganj Police Station the following day.
On December 30 last year, a Habiganj court sent Ariful, also a BNP central leader, to jail rejecting his bail prayer.
He secured bail from the HC on September 6 in the murder case.
