Khaleda gets bail in 5 cases

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday secured bail in five cases, including a sedition case.

The four other cases are Jatrabari arson attack and killing cases, Gatco graft case and the case filed over a crude bomb attack on a procession led by Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan.

Khaleda was also exempted from appearing in court in the cases linked with the Jatrabari arson attack and the crude bomb attack.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jakir Hossain granted Khaleda bail in the sedition case filed by a Supreme Court lawyer for her derogatory remarks on the number of Liberation War martyrs.

SC lawyer Momtaz Uddin Ahmad Mehedi on January 25 filed the case with approval from the home ministry.

The BNP chief got bail in both the cases linked with the petrol bomb attack on a passenger bus in the capita's Jatrabari on January 23 last year. Metropolitan Magistrate Md Maruf Hossain delivered the bail order in the case filed over the killing of a passenger in the incident.

Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court granted bail to Khaleda in the other case filed for the subversive act.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of the Special Judge Court-3 granted Khaleda bail in the Gatco corruption case.

In September 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission lodged the case with Tejgaon Police Station bringing charges against Khaleda, her youngest son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others of corruption in awarding Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Co Ltd (Gatco) a contract for container management at inland container depots in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaisarul Islam delivered the bail order in the case filed over the crude bomb attack on the procession led by Shahjahan Khan on February 16, 2015.

Hundreds of BNP men, including leaders and activists of pro-BNP youth body Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, gathered on Johnson road around 9.00am to welcome the BNP chief before she appeared in the courts. Senior BNP leaders, including Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, were present there.

Due to the huge crowed on both sides of the road, the traffic movement in the area remained halted for around four hours.

Members of the police and the Rapid Action Battalion were deployed there with riot cars and water canons to control any unwanted situation.

Police did not allow people to enter either of the premises of the CMM court and the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court located by the same road during the proceedings of the cases.

Traffic congestion also spread to Bangshal road, to Golapsha Mazar area by the time Khaleda came out of the CMM court in the afternoon.