HC bench accepts Abbas’ graft case bail plea

A High Court bench today accepted to dispose of a bail plea of BNP-blessed mayor candidate Mirza Abbas in connection to a graft case.

The bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan fixed April 21 for hearing the petition after Abbas’ lawyers led by Khandker Mahbub Hossain prayed for its dealing.

Earlier on April 13, the HC bench of Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore dropped the same bail petition from its hearing list saying there is specific bench for hearing the petitions regarding the corruption cases.

The bench led by Justice Moinul is holding hearing and disposing of the petitions in connection with the corruption cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission, its counsel Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

The ACC filed the corruption case with Shahbagh police on March 6 last year against BNP leader Alamgir Kabir and three others on charge of causing a loss of around Tk 15.52 crore to the state by allocating land to journalists at a lower rate.

Abbas has sought bail in the case as police had pressed charges against him along with other accused, apprehending that he might be arrested in this case.

On April 15, the bench of by Justice Quamrul and Justice Gobinda passed split orders on two bail petitions filed Mirza Abbas in connection with two vandalism and arson cases.

Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir yesterday told The Daily Star that the judges of the bench would now forward the bail petitions along with their dissenting orders to the chief justice.

After receiving the petitions and the split orders, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha would refer those to another HC bench for disposal, he added.