A Dhaka court yesterday rejected the bail petition of Awami Swechchhasebak League President AFM Bahauddin Nasim and sent him to jail after his surrender in an extortion case.
Judge Mohammad Shafiul Azam of the Sixth Joint Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after Nasim along with his lawyers appeared before the court and sought bail in the case filed for extorting Tk 25 lakh from an AL leader.
Moving the bail petition, lawyers told the court that their client had surrendered before the High Court (HC) on November 9 and sought an anticipatory bail.
After hearing, the HC did not grant him bail and asked the petitioner to surrender before the trial court within 10 weeks. The law enforcement agencies were also directed not to harass or arrest him during the period.
Showing respect to the court order, Nasim appeared before the trial court and sought bail, his lawyers said.
However, the prosecution opposed the bail petition submitted by the lawyers of Nasim and told the court that the petitioner went into hiding and had been absconding for a long period. Moreover, the case was earlier brought under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) that curb the lower court's jurisdiction of granting bail to any accused in any case. So, they prayed for rejecting Nasim's bail petition and sought an order to send him to jail, the prosecution added.
According to the trial, AL leader Rawshan Ali Master, managing director of Famous Steel Mills Ltd, filed the case with Shyampur Police Station against Nasim and his brother Khalid Hossain Yead on August 1 last year.
In the first information report, the complainant alleged that he had paid a total amount of Tk 25 lakh as extortion money from July 4 to October 28, 2006 after being threatened by Nasim and his brother.
Talking to the reporters on the court premises, Rawshan, who got AL ticket to contest 2001 parliamentary election from Comilla-4, said he had a business transaction with Nasim and his brother and they had settled the matter amicably.
After a long investigation, Sub-Inspector Enamul Haque pressed charges against Nasim and his brother on April 1. Nasim's brother has been absconding.
Complainant Rawshan and two others appeared before the court yesterday to give their statements but the court did not record their statements. The court fixed November 19 for the next hearing of the case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission also filed a case against Nasim on charges of amassing wealth through illegal means and concealing information of wealth from the commission.
Nasim had been earlier arrested in 2001 and two cases were filed against him for possessing local and foreign currencies illegally and on sedition charges.