Detained businessman Giausuddin Al Mamun yesterday appealed to a Dhaka court for withdrawal of his earlier confessional statement in connection with an extortion case filed against him in March 2007.
In his petition, Mamun told the court that he was tortured inhumanly while in remand and then forced to give that statement in which he named several others in connection with the extortion.
Mamun was produced before the court under tight security yesterday. He is convicted to a total of 20 years' imprisonment in three cases.
After the hearing, Metropolitan Magistrate Tania Kamal ordered that the retraction petition be kept in the case record.
In his confession given on April 9 of 2007, Mamun said that he along with five others -- including former BNP lawmaker Khairul Kabir Khokon -- extorted the money from a construction firm owner in June 2005.
In the case he filed with Kafrul police on March 27 of 2007, Khan Mohammad Aftab Uddin, managing director of Reza Construction Ltd, complained that Mamun, Khokon and the five others extorted Tk 16 lakh from him in 2005.
Mamun, a close friend and business partner of former BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman, was arrested from his house at Banani DOHS on March 26, 2007.
Later, police seized a .22 bore pistol and eight bullets form his house.
Mamun, an accused in a dozen extortion cases, was sentenced to a total of 20 years' imprisonment in separate cases for possessing firearms and ammunition, for not submitting his wealth statement, and for amassing wealth through illegal means.