BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has been granted bail just four hours after he was ordered into prison.
Published : 30 Mar 2016, 05:15 PM
He was denied bail in two out of three cases over violence and taken into judicial custody after he had surrendered at Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
His lawyers pleaded for a review of the decision on medical grounds and Fakhrul was granted bail around 4pm while he was still in jail.
“The BNP secretary general will be released from the court lockup,” Fakhrul’s counsel Sanaullah Mia told bdnews24.com immediately after the bail order.
But the senior BNP leader was brought to Dhaka Central Jail around 2:30pm, Prison Superintendent Mohammad Nesar Alam told bdnews24.com.
The process to release Mirza Fakhrul can only start once prison authorities receive the bail order.
“The bail bond has been signed. We will now head to the prison,” BNP’s Financial Affairs Secretary Abdus Salam told bdnews24.com around 5pm.
All of the drama—Fakhrul sent to prison and getting bail—happened within a span of four hours.
Just before his bail was cancelled, Fakhrul had been named BNP secretary general, having served as acting secretary general for five years.
The party rank and file had gathered at Naya Paltan to greet the new secretary general but were greeted with the news that he had been sent to prison.
In an immediate reaction, BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, who has been promoted to BNP senior joint secretary general on Wednesday, said it was part of a ‘deep conspiracy.’
But, any reaction from the party has not been forthcoming since Fakhrul’s bail.
After spending almost six months in jail last year pending trial on violence charges, the BNP leader had secured interim bail from the High Court. A rule was also issued on the matter.
After his release from prison, Mirza Fakhrul had gone abroad for medical treatment.
The State challenged the order in the Appellate Division, which then upheld bail until the High Court’s rule was resolved.
The court had then instructed the BNP leader to surrender before the trial court once his bail expired.
On Nov 24, the High Court resolved the rule and granted Fakhrul three months bail.
The former minister then filed a petition to appeal against the order in an effort to secure permanent bail.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha resolved his plea on Feb 29 and the BNP leader was told to surrender in 15 days.