Saidul Karim secures HC bail in Anwarul abduction case

The High Court has granted ad-interim bail to Saidul Karim Mintu, former general secretary of the banned Awami League's Jhenidah district unit, in a case over the attempted abduction and murder of ex-MP Anwarul Azim Anar.

The bench of Justice Md Atoar Rahman and Justice Md Ali Reza issued the order today and also asked the state to explain why Mintu should not be granted permanent bail.

Mintu's lawyer Advocate Prashanta Kumar Karmoker told The Daily Star his client was granted bail as he was not named in the first information report (FIR), did not give a confessional statement, and because another accused who confessed—Kazi Kamal Ahmed Babu—had earlier received bail in the same case.

However, Mintu will not be released yet as he is in custody in other cases, the lawyer added.

Anwarul's daughter Mumtarin Ferdous filed the case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on May 12 last year.

Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested Mintu in Dhanmondi on June 11 and later shown arrested in the case.

Anwarul had travelled to India through Darshana's Gede border on May 12, 2023, and was staying at the house of a friend Gopal Biswas in Kolkata.

He went out the next day to see a doctor and never returned.

Five days later, on May 18 last year, Gopal Biswas filed a police complaint with Baranagar Police Station regarding the disappearance of Anwarul. But he was not found.

On May 22, news spread that Anwarul was murdered in a residential building called Sanjeeva Gardens in New Town area near Kolkata.

Blood was found in the apartment, but his body was never recovered.