Agora chairman jailed for food adulteration
A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Chairman of Agora super shop Niaz Rahim to two years' imprisonment in two separate cases filed for selling adulterated ghee in 2008.
Special Magistrate Md Mahbub Sobhani of the Pure Food Court in Dhaka handed down the sentence in presence of Niaz and ordered police to send him to jail with a conviction warrant. The court also fined him Tk 50,000 in each case, in default of which he will have to suffer two months more in jail.
Meanwhile, Mehedi Pavel Sweet, special magistrate of another Pure Food Court, granted bail to Niaz in the cases on condition that he would appeal against the conviction and sentence within 30 days.
The magistrate granted the bail orders following two petitions filed by Niaz. Following the orders, Niaz Rahim was released from custody.
He can appeal to the court of sessions judge or metropolitan sessions judge against his conviction and sentence under section 41C of the Pure Food Ordinance, 1959.
The section says, “An appeal against the judgment of a Pure Food Court shall lie to the Sessions Judge or to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, within 30 (Thirty) days as the case may be.”
According to the case statements, Health Inspector Fakhruddin Mobarok of Dhaka City Corporation seized adulterated ghee from Agora super shop in Moghbazar area on August 18, 2008. He filed two cases with the Pure Food Court against Niaz.
The court framed charges on November 10, 2008.
During the trial proceedings, the court recorded statements of four prosecution witnesses and five defence witnesses.
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