The High Court (HC) yesterday granted ad interim bail for six months to former BNP whip Ashraf Hossain in a bribery case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had filed the case against him for bribery in getting work order for construction of Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover in the city.
Upon a petition filed by Ashraf, a division bench of the HC comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad also issued a rule upon the government to show cause within four weeks why the petitioner should not be granted regular bail in this case.
The HC bench, upon separate petitions, stayed the proceedings against BNP leader and former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas, former lawmaker Munshi Anwar, city ward commissioner Chowdhury Alam and Kaniz Fatema, wife of former prime minister Khaleda Zia's brother Shamim Iskander, in separate graft cases filed by the ACC.
It also issued separate rules upon the government to show cause why the proceedings against them should not be quashed.
The same HC bench again extended for three weeks the anticipatory bail of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka in a case filed by the ACC for illegally amassing wealth worth Tk 9.76 crore, and for giving false information to the ACC about his wealth.
Earlier, on July 7, the HC bench granted Khoka anticipatory bail in the case and stayed its proceedings until July 16 following a writ petition for quashing the case. The same bench on July 16 extended the bail till July 31.