Cricketer Arafat Sunny wants his both wives to stay

Under pressure from court to negotiate with his second wife, cricketer Arafat Sunny wants to keep both of his marriages alive.

But his second wife, Nasrin Sultana, who has sued him, is not impressed.

On her opposition, the cricketer was denied permanent bail by Dhaka's Sessions Judge Qamrul Hasan Molla on Wednesday.

The court granted him interim bail until July 6. Sunny has also been asked to strike a negotiation with Nasrin within that day.

The spinner of the national cricket team has been in a wobbly condition from early this year. Police arrested him on Jan 22 after Nasrin started a case against him under the ICT Act.

She later started two other cases against Sunny on charges of demanding dowry and torturing her.

The court granted the cricketer bail in Nasrin's custody.

To make matters worse for him, the news of 30-year-old Sunny's previous marriage came out.

When the cricketer appeared before court on Wednesday to seek permanent bail, the court reminded him of its previous instruction to strike a negotiation with Nasrin.

Lawyers Kazi Nazibullah Hiru, M Jewel Ahmed and Muraduzzaman Murad argued for Sunny at the hearing.

They told the court that Sunny wanted to keep Nasrin with the status of wife, and that's why he has rented a separate flat for her, but she is not living in it.

"She wants Sunny to divorce his first wife, which is not possible," the defence said.

They claimed Nasrin knew about Sunny's first marriage before tying the knot with him.

"Now his first wife will also sue him if she gets divorced. So Sunny wants to keep both the wives," lawyer Jewel told bdnews24.com after the hearing.

Nasrin, however, refuted the claim that she had known about Sunny's first marriage.

"Unmarried was written on his passport when I went abroad with him. He cheated on me," she said.

She also alleged Sunny's mother Nargis Akter beat her up recently when she went to pay a visit to their house.