HC refuses to hear Ctg mayor's bail petition

A HC bench yesterday refused to hear a bail petition filed by detained mayor of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury in the Bijoy TV graft case due to its overburden with other cases.
As Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday moved the bail petition for hearing, a vacation bench of the HC comprising Justice Khondker Musa Khaled and Justice Farid Ahmed said, “This bench is overburdened with earlier fixed matters. So, we are unable to entertain this application.”
Advocate Hari Sadhan Deb Brahman, a counsel for Mohiuddin, yesterday told The Daily Star that earlier on August 28, an HC bench comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad dropped the same petition from its case docket without showing any reason and verbally asked the petitioner's counsels to move the application before a bench of the HC during the vacation.
He further said Mohiuddin got bail in 13 cases out of total 14 cases against him, adding, “If he is granted bail in the Bijoy TV case, there will not be any legal bar to his release from jail.”
Sources said that Mohiuddin's lawyers led by Dr Kamal Hossain on August 31 met the chief justice (CJ) and requested him to give powers to another HC bench for hearing this bail petition.
The CJ granted their request and gave powers to the HC bench of Justice Khondker Musa Khaled and Justice Farid Ahmed to hear the regular matters including Mohiuddin's petition.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case with Kotwali Police Station in Chittagong on May 27 last year against Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Imtiaz Hossain and CCC Chief Engineer Mokhter on charges of launching Bijoy TV without prior government permission.
The charge sheet was submitted on November 22 last year in which it was alleged that the trio drew Tk 1.78 crore from the corporation fund in four phases and used Tk 1,69,67,960 from the amount in the name of launching the private channel.
The case remains pending in the Divisional Special Judge Court in Chittagong.