Ex-DIG prisons Bazlur denied bail in graft case

The High Court yesterday denied bail to suspended department of prisons Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Bazlur Rashid in connection with a corruption case. The case was filed over amassing Tk 3.08 crore beyond the known source of his income.

The court also directed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to finish probe into the charge within six months.

The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam passed the order after rejecting a petition filed by Bazlur Rashid seeking bail in the case. Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik said Bazlur cannot get released from jail following the HC order.

The HC bench observed his alleged transactions to be similar to a “white colour crime”, ACC’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

This correspondent tried to contact Bazlur’s lawyer Advocate Abdul Matin Khasru for comments, but his cellphone was found switched off.

The ACC arrested Bazlur Rashid in the case -- filed with ACC’s Integrated District Office -- and showed him arrested in the case on October 20 last year.

The following day, the home ministry suspended him from service.  

According to the case statement, Bazlur signed a contract with a real estate company in 2018 to buy a flat in the capital’s Siddeshwari Road area at Tk 3.09 crore.

Through April 20, 2018 to June 7, 2018 Bazlur paid Tk 3.08 crore in cash and cheque, but during ACC officials’ interrogation, he could not show any legal source of the money.

According to his bio, Bazlur joined the service as a jail super in 1993. He was promoted to DIG prisons in 2013 and transferred to Dhaka in 2016.