Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran was freed from the Sylhet Central Jail yesterday afternoon after bail documents reached the jail on Wednesday.
Kamran was freed around 2:10pm when around 100 people including his wife, a number of city corporation councillors, leaders of city and district Awami League (AL) and others were present at the jail gate.
In an instant reaction to the press, Kamran expressed his gratitude to Allah and the city dwellers who re-elected him as mayor.
“I am back among the people with the kindness of the Almighty Allah… I will sacrifice myself anew for the cause of the city and its inhabitants, who voted for my return," he added.
The mayor drove straight to his home in the city's Chhararpar area. Later he visited the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) and the grave of his mother Nurunnesa Lalon who died recently.
The mayor is expected to resume his office on Sunday, official sources said. The SCC authorities are preparing for Kamran's return to his office by taking charge from acting Mayor Azam Khan.
A High Court division bench on August 27 granted Kamran bail in a case. The mayor's release was being delayed as the court order took time to reach the jail.
On August 17 this year, Kamran was moved to Sylhet Central Jail from Comilla Central Jail and was released on parole for 6 hours the next day following the death of his mother at a Dhaka clinic on August 17. Kamran was taken back to the jail and was admitted to the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital after he became sick. He was taken back to the jail Wednesday afternoon.
Kamran, while behind bars, was re-elected in the August 4 SCC polls by a huge margin. In compliance with the legal provisions, he quit from the post of AL city unit chief on August 31.
The SCC mayor was arrested April 6 last year in the much-talked-about kitchen market scam case. He was released on bail on May 8 that year and joint forces arrested him again on May 28, 2007 at Sylhet city's Gulshan Hotel. A case was filed against him after recovery of a bottle of foreign liquor at his home that day.
Arrested in connection with violating the Emergency Power Rules, 2007 (EPR) he was issued detention on June 4, 2007.
He was in Sylhet Central Jail and in Comilla Central Jail for 15 months since then. He is facing four cases including two cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The High Court division bench comprised of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Emdadul Haque Azad on August 7 granted him bail in the ACC-filed case and in the case filed under the EPR. Proceedings of two other cases were stayed earlier.
The ACC on January 6 this year filed a case against Kamran and his wife Asma Kamran in connection with accumulating wealth worth Tk 2.16 crore illegally. Later investigation found the figure to be Tk 2.22 crore and that the couple had concealed their actual wealth to the ACC.
The first case against him, the kitchen market scam case, was lodged on May 8, 2003 by the then executive engineer and ward commissioners.