Extortion Case: Mozammel gets bail

A Dhaka court yesterday granted bail to Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, in an extortion case.

However, he cannot get out of jail as Kafrul police on Monday appealed to a court to show him arrested in a case filed under Explosive Substances Act.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mazharul Haque passed the bail order after Mozammel's lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua moved the bail petition.

During the hearing, Jyotirmoy said the complainant of the case did not know his client, even though his signature was taken for filing the case. The case was filed only to harass his client, he added.

The lawyer told The Daily Star that there was no legal bar for his client's release as the decision for showing him arrested in a case was pending with a court and the hearing was tomorrow.

The police arrested Mozammel, secretary general of a platform working for passengers' rights, at his Sanarpar house in Narayanganj around 3:00am on September 6, two days after the extortion case was filed with Mirpur police.

In the case statement, complainant Md Dulal alleged that Mozammel, claiming to be a transport leader, demanded Tk 2 lakh from him and took Tk 10,000 from him in front of Sony Cinema in Mirpur on September 3.

Mozammel was placed on one-day's remand for interrogation hours after the arrest.

On Monday, Sub-Inspector Kazi Raihanur Rahman of Kafrul police filed a petition with the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka to show Mozammel arrested in a case filed for creating anarchy.

Raihanur, investigation officer (IO) of the case, also sought a 10-day remand for Mozammel. The court fixed tomorrow for hearing the plea.

The case, filed with Kafrul police on February 4, accuses more than 50 people of creating anarchy. Mozammel's name was not included in the First Information Report (FIR).