In Chittagong, former BNP lawmaker and whip Syed Wahidul Alam and three others were sued in an extortion and money embezzlement case yesterday.

Detained former BNP lawmaker MAH Selim was shown arrested in two extortion cases while the cheating case filed against barrister Nazmul Huda was transferred to a Dhaka court for its trial.

Proceedings of graft cases against General Secretary of Swechchssebok League Pankaj Kumar Devnath, his wife Monika Devnath, CBA leader of T&T Firoz Miah and his wife Rawshan Ara Begum were adjourned yesterday.

HARUN CASE
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haq of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court yesterday rejected the bail petition of Harun of Chapainawabganj-3 constituency in a case filed in connection with fraud.

The order came following a criminal appeal filed by Harun's defence lawyers against the rejection order of the lower court on April 22.

The case was filed against him and two others with Pallabi Police Station in connection with evading tax during import of a luxury car by abusing duty-free car import privilege of a member of parliament (MP).

The two others are Enayetur Rahman, managing director of ntv, and Istiaq Sadiq, owner of Sky Autos. They were arrested on March 7 for their alleged involvement with the fraud.

Harun purchased a luxury sport utility vehicle-- a General Motors Hummer H2-- on April 25, 2005 under the duty-free privilege of an MP and later sold it to Istiaq.

By doing so, Harun violated his bond made to the parliament that he would use the vehicle for at least three years before changing its ownership. Istiaq later sold it to Enayet, said police in their forwarding report.

SHAHIDUL CASE
The same court yesterday rejected the bail of Mufti Shahidul Islam in connection with a general diary filed with Mohammadpur Police Station on February 8.

The judge passed the order upon a criminal appeal by his lawyers against the rejection order of the lower court on February 17.

The Rapid Action Battalion raided Shahidul's house on Babar Road at Mohammadpur in the capital on February 7 and arrested him.

Shahidul, also a leader of Islami Oikya Jote (Shaikhul Hadith), was elected an MP of Narail-2 constituency in the by-election on BNP-led four-party alliance's ticket after Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina relinquished the seat.

Hasina alleged that Shahidul had militant connections when he was a lawmaker during the immediate past BNP-led four-party coalition's rule.

Shahidul, however, got nomination from the AL-led grand alliance to contest the scraped January 22 parliamentary elections from Narail-2 following a five-point memorandum of understanding signed between Khelafat Majlish and AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil on December 23.

SELIM CASE
BNP MP from Bagerhat was shown arrested in two extortion cases filed against him on June 10 with Gulshan Police Station.

Metropolitan Magistrate AJM Abdullahel Baqui granted the petitions to show Selim arrested in the cases filed by investigation officers (IOs).

The complainant, Zahirul Islam Faruq of Panthapath, in the FIR (first information report) mentioned that Selim demanded Tk 50 lakh and Tk 12 lakh for letting him work on two LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) projects, for which Zahirul had won work orders.

The complainant said he had no option but to give the amount due to the then lawmaker's mounting pressure.

The plaintiff also said he paid Tk 10 lakh with a cheque in 2003 while the rest of the money was paid on different dates later on.

HUDA CASE
The criminal case filed against Huda for using a fake registration number for his sport utility vehicle (SUV) was transferred yesterday to the court of Metropolitan Magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah for its trial.

On June 8, Dhanmondi police pressed charges against Huda in connection with the case and the charge sheet was accepted by another Dhaka court on June 10.

Sub-Inspector Kazi Amirul Islam, also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the CMM's Court, Dhaka.

On February 25, police seized Huda's luxurious Cadillac Escalade bearing registration number Dhaka Metro Gha 11-9999 and filed a case against him with Dhanmondi Police Station on March 1.

PANKAJ-FIROZ CASE
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haq of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court fixed Sunday for return of the arrest warrants issued against Pankaj's wife Monika and Firoz's wife Rawshan Ara Begum in two graft cases.

Earlier, the same court had issued arrest warrants against them, as they have absconding since the cases were filed with Dhanmondi and Ramna police stations in March this year.

Pankaj and Firoz were produced before the court yesterday during hearing of the cases.

WAHID CASE
Our CU correspondent reported that Magistrate of Sadar Cognisance Court- 2 Sanjida Sharmin ordered Hathazari police to investigate the case against the former BNP lawmaker.

SM Fazlul Karim, former general secretary of inter-district Truck Sramik Union, lodged the case against Wahid for extorting and embezzling around Tk 2.5 crore.