Agora chairman jailed for food adulteration, later released on bail

Chairman of Agora Super Shop Niaz Rahim secured bail today hours after he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in two cases filed for selling adulterated ghee in 2008.

Special Magistrate of Pure Food Court of Dhaka Mehedi Pavel Sweet granted bail to Niaz Rahim in the cases on condition that he will appeal against the conviction and sentence within 30 days.

Niaz, who is one of the directors of business group Rahimafrooz, was granted bail after he filed two petitions seeking bail in the cases.

Following the orders of bail, he was released of the custody.

Earlier in the day, another special magistrate of the court handed down the sentence to Niaz Rahim and ordered police to send him to jail with the conviction warrant.

The court also fined him Tk 50,000 in each case in default of which he will serve two months’ more in jail.

Niaz Rahim can appeal to the court of sessions judge or metropolitan sessions judge against his conviction and sentence handed by the Pure Food Court under the section 41C of the Pure Food Ordinance, 1959.

The section says, “An appeal against the judgement 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 at Maghbazar area in the capital on August 18, 2008 and filed two separate cases with the court against Niaz Rahim.

After taking cognisance of the charges in the cases, the court framed charges against the Agora chairman on November 10 in 2008.

During the trial proceedings, the court recorded statements of four prosecution witnesses and five defence witnesses.

The sample of adulterated ghee was collected from Agora’s Moghbazar outlet.