RanksTel chief, 8 others get HC bail
The High Court yesterday granted anticipatory bail for three months to RanksTel Chairman A Rouf Chowdhury and eight others in a case alleging their involvement in illegal VoIP (voice over internet protocol) business.
The eight others are RanksTel directors Amanullah Chowdhury, Anwar Hossain, Ashraf Uddin, Fazle Selim, Zakia Rouf Chowdhury, Romo Rouf Chowdhury and Sohana Chowdhury, and its Chief Operation Officer AKM Shamsuddin.
The HC bench of Justice Afzal Hossain Ahmed and Justice Md Abdul Hye granted the accused bail upon a bail petition filed by the accused, who appeared before the court during the hearing.
On March 20 Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission's (BTRC) junior consultant Kawser Ahmed filed a case against 12 officials from RanksTel with Tejgaon Industrial Police Station for their alleged involvement in illegal VoIP business.
On March 19, BTRC shut down the operations of RanksTel, a telecom service provider, for its alleged involvement in illegal VoIP business.
As a result, around 300,000 RanksTel subscribers remain
offline.
Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, and advocates Anisul Huq and Sakhawat Hossain appeared for the accused petitioners.
In a separate case, the High Court yesterday rejected a writ petition filed by Dhaka Phone, a private landline phone company.
The petition challenged the action of Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission's (BTRC) decision to suspend its operations.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Md Delwar Hossain rejected the petition on the grounds that it is premature because the tenure of the show cause notice issued by BTRC has not yet expired.
On March 15 BTRC issued a show cause notice requesting Dhaka Phone to explain within a week why its licence should not be cancelled for violating terms and conditions.
On the same day BTRC suspended the operations of Dhaka Phone and sealed its main switching centre and head office at Rupayan Tower in Banani.
BTRC alleges that Dhaka Phone is running illegal VoIP business.
Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud moved the petition, while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza opposed the petition.
Comments