Published : 08 Nov 2026, 05:45 PM
Updated : 08 Nov 2026, 05:45 PM
A man spent nearly a year in prison for a crime committed by someone with the same name.
The High Court has ordered his immediate release after an inquiry confirmed police arrested the wrong Md Almas in a 2002 arms case.
A bench of Justices JBM Hassan and Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan issued the order on Sunday after reviewing a report submitted by Senior Judicial Magistrate Mahfuzur Rahman on Nov 1.
Similarities in the men’s names, their fathers’ names and addresses had caused the mix-up.
The original case documents gave the convict’s address as Purba Dhoair in Dohar. But an investigating officer later recorded it as “South Barra”, a mistake carried into the arrest warrant. Similarities in the men’s fathers’ names further complicated identification.
Police arrested the petitioner, Almas, on Nov 4, 2025. Local representatives reportedly told officers he was not the convict.
The officer who arrested him alerted senior officials to the discrepancy and shared Almas’s national identity card photograph. Despite the warning, he was sent to jail the next day.
The actual convict was arrested with a revolver in 2002 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2004 after going into hiding on bail. His relatives say he now lives in Canada.
Almas moved the High Court, which in September questioned the legality of his arrest and detention and sought an explanation over his Tk 50 million compensation claim. That matter remains pending.
Although the inquiry confirmed the mistaken identity, it did not recommend disciplinary action or assign individual responsibility.
