Judge Iftekhar Rasul Siddique framed the charges after hearing the case and scheduled June 21 for starting the hearing of depositions from prosecution witnesses. The ad interim bail for the accused was also extended till that date.

On May 10, 16 of the accused were granted ad interim bail till May 16 as they had appeared before the court that day after being at large since April 5.

Their bail was then extended till yesterday by the court. The district and sessions judge of Sylhet earlier issued arrest warrants on April 5 against all the accused.

However, the prime accused in the case, Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, had been granted two months' ad interim bail from a High Court bench on April 30 and was released on May 7 from Comilla Central Jail.

Another accused Ward Commissioner Abdul Quaiyum Jalali Ponki has also been out on bail since May 3, granted by the same Divisional Special Judge's Court.

Meanwhile, one of the accused former ward commissioner Abdul Wadud Khaled died of a heart attack on April 30 while he was in hiding at a relative's house in Moulavibazar.

The Anti-corruption Commission filed a charge sheet against 19 including the mayor on February 7. Others arraigned yesterday are Ward Commissioner and Sylhet City Awami Jubo League General Secretary Azadur Rahman Azad, Ward Commissioners Syed Ahmed Hossain, Santanu Dutta Shantu, Saleh Ahmed, Sazzadur Rahman, Syed Misbah Uddin, Haji Faruque Ahmed, and Mohammad Shahjahan, former ward commissioners Humayun Kabir Shahin, Prodip Bhattacharya, Azhar Uddin Jahangir, Oliur Rahman Sohel, Moksud Bakhat and Bidhan Chandra Kapali, former executive engineer of the erstwhile Sylhet pourashava Padma Sen Sinha, and storekeeper of the SCC Saiful Alam Topu.

The investigation officer from the erstwhile Bureau of Anti-corruption alleged in the charge sheet that the accused persons in collusion with each other on May 11, 2000 leased out a kitchen market at Shibganj area of the SCC, which was then a pourashava, to the then ward commissioner Sazzadur Rahman's younger brother Azadur Rahman Azad without any tender or approval from the ministry concerned. They misappropriated an amount of Tk 23 lakh through the corrupt practice, the charge sheet alleged. Azad is now a ward commissioner while Sazzad is deceased. The erstwhile anti-graft body filed the case in April 2003. However, after Azad's arrest, the amount was deposited to the SCC account by his men in February.