Split order on Abbas’ bail in 2 cases

High Court today gave split verdict on bail hearing in two criminal cases against BNP-endorsed Dhaka mayor candidate Mirza Abbas.

Absent from his publicity campaign ahead of the April 28 mayor polls of the two halves of Dhaka, Mirza Abbas was present at court today.

Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique gave three weeks anticipatory bail to Abbas while his bench member Gobinda Chandra Tagore rejected the bail pleas.

Bail hearing of these two violence cases of Paltan and Motijheel police will now be moved to Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

The chief justice will now forward bail hearings to a new bench.

However, Abbas still has 60 cases including and an arrest warrant on him of a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, which today’s HC bench refused to deal with.

This case, the bench said, is a specific case usually dealt with a specific bench.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said police can arrest Mirza Abbas in the corruption case filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as he is yet to obtain bail in the case.

Mahbubey Alam made the remarks while talking to reporters at his office today.

Last Monday, HC ordered Abbas not to campaign or speak to the media before today’s bail verdict. The authorities were also told to keep hands off Abbas before this verdict.

Since April 9, two days after the polls campaign officially commenced, Abbas’ wife Afroza Abbas has been moving with her husband’s election campaign.

Dhaka police has issued stern warning against “fugitives” participating in the city polls of divided Dhaka without securing bail in the cases they are accused of.