Shawdesh Desk: The High Court (HC) on Monday rejected bail prayers of suspended Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police Mizanur Rahman and handed him over to police.
The HC Bench also ordered the police to produce him (Mizan) before the Senior Special Judge’s court in Dhaka within 24 hours. The Bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman passed the order after summarily rejecting his petition seeking anticipatory bail in the case. The suspended police official appeared before the HC for a bail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over a bribery allegation. On Sunday, DIG Mizan filed a petition for the bail with the HC. The HC also ordered DIG Mizan’s nephew Sub-Inspector Mahmudul Hasan to surrender in 72 hours to court in the same case. Court sources said that Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) took Mizanur Rahman to their custody in the afternoon in line with the HC order. Mizanur and Mahmudul appeared before the HC Bench with separate bail petitions after 2:00pm. Advocate Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi and Advocate Aminul Islam argued for them while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission that filed the corruption case.During the proceedings, Advocate Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi told the court that DIG Mizanur Rahman is a very honest officer.
He (Mizan) was awarded gold medal while he was an additional commissioner of police for his courageous role to prevent extremism and terrorism, the lawyer said, adding that his client (Mizan) will not leave the country if he is granted bail in the case.
Advocate Momtaz Uddin read out from the first information of the case and said that the inconsistency of his known source of income and his wealth is very little and he might be granted bail. On Jun 24, the ACC filed a case against him, his wife, brother and nephew accusing them of amassing illegal wealth. DIG Mizan was scheduled to appear at the ACC headquarters on Monday, but he did not show up citing his “personal reasons”.
The anti-graft body summoned him to its headquarters to question him about Tk 4 million in bribes that he allegedly paid to ACC Director Enamul Basir. Earlier, ACC Director Manjur Morshed filed the case with the ACC’s coordinated district office Dhaka-1. The ACC found evidence of Mizanur’s illegal assets worth over Tk 30.7 lakh. DIG Mizanur in a television interview recently claimed that Basir took the bribes from him promising that he would be given a clean chit.After hearing his argument, the HC bench passed the order and made the comment.
Mizanur came to the spotlight last year for “forcibly marrying and torturing” a woman, has amassed Tk 3.28 crore illegally over a period of 20 years, finds an investigation. The DIG made the money by taking bribes and committing corruption, according to the probe conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Between 1998 and 2018, Mizan earned Tk 4.63 crore, but only Tk 1.35 crore of it came from legal sources. After finishing the probe, ACC recorded a case against DIG Mizan on June 24. DIG Mizan came under scanner in January last year when he was accused of forcibly marrying and torturing a woman. Later, he was withdrawn from his post at Dhaka Metropolitan Police, and ACC opened an investigation into him in May last year.