Supreme Court judge freezes bail to Apan Jewellers owners

A chamber judge of the Appellate Division has stayed a High Court order granting bail to the owners of Apan Jewellers.

Justice Muhammad Imman Ali stayed the HC order until Dec 21 after hearing a petition of the state on Monday.

The state will file documents to open an appeal to challenge the bail on Dec 21, said Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Shaju.

On Dec 14, a High Court bench granted bail to Apan Jewellers co-owners, Dildar Ahmed, Gulzar Ahmed and Azad Ahmed, in three cases.

Gulzar Ahmed and Azad Ahmed were released while Dildar remained behind bars as the court issued a ‘standover’ on his bail petition in two cases filed with Uttara and Dhanmondi police stations. 

The three brothers are accused in five cases over money laundering and other charges filed with Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Ramna and Uttara police stations.

Dildar’s son Shafat Ahmed stands accused of raping two university girls at a hotel in Banani and currently lies behind bars.

The Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate opened an inquiry into the allegation of “illegal transactions” against the Apan Jewellers owners, a few days into the arrest of Shafat and his friends in May.

It confiscated 15.3 maunds of gold and 7,369 pieces of diamond jewellery from different outlets of the brand and sent them to the Bangladesh Bank later that month.

The customs filed five cases against the three brothers on Aug 12 upon completion of its investigation.

On Aug 22, Dildar and his brothers secured ad-interim bail for four weeks from the High Court.

The court issued arrest warrants against them on Oct 23 for not appearing in a hearing. Three of them were sent to jail after they surrendered before the court.

On Nov 22, the court heard their bail petitions and issued a rule asking why they should not be granted bail. It disposed of the rule on Dec 14.