The High Court on Thursday turned down the bail petition of suspended Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Khandaker Enamul Basir who was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment in a bribery case.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing on the bail petition submitted by Basir’s lawyer.
The court also suspended Tk 80 lakh fine imposed on Basir by a lower court in the case.
On April 13, the court received his petition for acquittal from the charges in this case for hearing.
Advocate Motaher Hossain Saju appeared for the accused while senior advocate Md Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC.
On April 6, the court received Mizanur Rahman’s bail petition who was sentenced three years in jail in the same case.
On February 23, Dhaka Special Judge Court-4, judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam sentenced Basir and Mizan to eight and three years in jail, respectively in this case. A fine of Tk 80 lakh was also imposed on Basir in the case.
Mizan was an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). He was removed from the post on January 9, 2019, after he was accused of abducting a 25-year-old female anchor of a private news channel and forcibly marrying her.
He had also allegedly implicated her in a false case in which she was arrested and sent to judicial custody for three weeks.
The corruption case dates back to June 24, 2019, when ACC director Manjur Morshed lodged a complaint against the disgraced DIG, his wife Sohelia Anar Ratna, nephew sub-inspector Mahmudul Hasan and younger brother Mahbubur Rahman.
According to the case statement, Mizan accumulated wealth worth Tk 3.28 crore beyond his known sources of income. On the other hand, he had declared wealth worth Tk 3.7 crore in his tax statement.
Then director of ACC, Basir, was made the investigating officer in the case.
During the probe, Mizan had accused Basir of demanding Tk 40 lakh as bribe for setting the case, prompting the Commission to appoint director Monjur Morshed as the investigating officer in the case.
At the same time, a three-member probe body was formed, led by ACC director Sheikh Mohammad Fanafillah, to look into the allegations of bribery.
On July 16, 2019, Fanafillah lodged a complaint against both Mizan and Basir. And on April 16, 2020, a Dhaka court indicted the two and directed the official beginning of the trial in the case.
Another case is currently under trial against four people, including Mizan, filed over accumulation of ill-gotten assets and money laundering at the Dhaka Special Judge Court-6.
Source: United News of Bangladesh