Accused Raju gets HC bail

The High Court has granted ad-interim bail to Md Raju, an accused of a case filed for killing Taslima Begum Renu in a mob beating in Dhaka's Badda area in July last year.

A virtual HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Badruzzaman granted bail to accused Raju till reopening of regular functions of this bench and also issued a rule asking the state to explain why he should not be granted regular bail in this case.

The bench passed the bail order on Monday following a petition filed by Raju through his lawyer Shofiqul Alam Mahmood.

Deputy Attorney General Dr Md Bashir Ullah told The Daily Star yesterday that the HC bench granted bail to Md Raju as he did not make any confessional statement to the magistrate concerned.

The government is preparing to move an appeal before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court challenging the HC bail order, he said, adding that Raju is now in jail.

On July 20, last year Renu, 40, a single mother of two, was beaten dead around 8:30am when she went to Uttar Badda Government Primary School to ask about the admission process, according to police.

Her nephew Nasir Uddin Tito filed a case against 400 or 500 unknown people with Badda Police Station. Locals told police that many thought that she was a child kidnapper and attacked her. Mobs beat to death four more people on suspicion of being child kidnappers on the same day.