Detained BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman yesterday appealed to a Dhaka court to ensure his security claiming he was "inhumanly tortured" in the name of interrogation while he was on remand in connection with a corruption case.
Meanwhile, detained former BNP lawmaker Mosaddak Ali Falu was granted bail in a theft case and detained Awami League leader engineer Mosharraf Hossain was shown arrested in a corruption case.
"I was blindfolded and taken to an unknown place from Dhaka Central Jail on December 31. I was physically tortured there while being hung from something,'' Tarique yesterday said when he was produced before the court for the hearing of a seven-day remand prayer.
He said he was blindfolded for over 18 hours. He was in police custody for 24 hours in a case filed in connection with concealing wealth in his wealth statement and amassing wealth through illegal means.
"I did not know who took me from the jail and where I was taken to,'' Tarique said during the hearing on the remand prayer in a case filed in connection with a Tk 1.32 crore extortion case.
He said, "If anybody is placed on remand, he or she is tortured… I am a politician and not a criminal."
Gulshan police produced him before the court at 12:15pm yesterday with the remand prayer to interrogate him.
The defence lawyers submitted a petition for the cancellation of the remand prayer and sought bail for Tarique.
After hearing both sides, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ehsanul Haque rejected the defence plea and placed Tarique on a one-day remand.
On November 15, the same court allowed the investigation officer (IO) of the case Sub-inspector (SI) Imtiaz AKM Bhuiyan to interrogate Tarique at the gate of Dhaka Central Jail after the IO prayed for a seven-day remand. Following the order, the IO had interrogated him at the jail gate.
Khan Mohammad Aftab Uddin, managing director of Reza Construction Ltd, filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on March 27 against Giasuddin Al Mamun and six others in connection with extorting Tk 1.32 crore from him.
The other accused are former lawmaker Khairul Kabir Khokon, Obaidul Karim alias Sohel, Mamun's APS Kamruzzaman, Mahbub, Hablu and Mota Tariq.
Tarique was shown arrested in the case on April 23 after Mamun gave a confessional statement disclosing Tarique's involvement in the extortion.
Joint forces arrested him from his mother's (BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia) Cantonment residence on March 7 after an extortion case was filed against him.
Earlier, Tarique was placed on a 10-day remand in four extortion cases filed with different police stations on different dates.
FALU'S BAIL
A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to detained former BNP lawmaker Mosaddak Ali Falu in a theft case filed with Paltan Police Station in February 2003.
This is the first time a court granted bail to Falu since his arrest on February 5 last year.
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order upon a bond of Tk 20,000 with two guarantors.
The case was filed against Falu, Dhaka City Corporation Ward Commissioner Mirza Khokon, brother of detained former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas, and seven others in connection with breaking down the walls of a house in Purana Paltan in the city on February 5, 2003 and looting valuables worth around Tk 5 lakh from the house.
Falu was shown arrested in the case on June 22 last year.
MOSHARRAF SHOWN ARRESTED
Detained Awami League leader and former housing and public works minister engineer Mosharraf Hossain was shown arrested in a case filed against him in connection with concealing Tk 3.08 crore in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-corruption Commission.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Rabbani passed the order after ACC Assistant Director Jahangir Alam submitted a petition in this regard.