http://bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=3&id=61348
Tarique free on bail, to stay in hospital | | | | Wed, Sep 3rd, 2008 4:43 pm BdST |
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| Sumon Mahmud
bdnews24.com Chief Political Correspondent
Dhaka, Sept 3 (bdnews24.com) — Authorities have released BNP leader Tarique Rahman on bail at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman University Hospital after 18 months in detention, sending hundreds of supporters into a spasm of delight.
Deputy inspector general of prisons Shamsul Haider Siddiqui emerged from Tarique's hospital cabin to announce to reporters at 4:30pm that he had just been released.
Siddiqui went to meet with Tarique around 3:50pm.
The ailing elder son of detained former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia will stay in the hospital, his lawyer Ahmed Azam Khan told bdnews24.com.
Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon, arthroscopic and joint replacement specialist at BSMMU Hospital, said Tarique's physical condition remained all the same.
Earlier in the morning, deputy inspector general of prisons Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told bdnews24.com that the detained son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia would be released sometime Wednesday afternoon.
"All documents related to Tarique's release are here. We'll scrutinise the legal papers which may take us until midday," he said.
"He may be released any time after that in the afternoon," the DIG added.
Earlier, the hospital plunged into total chaos ahead of the imminent release of Tarique, as scores of BNP supporters crammed the hospital, and beat a 'reformist' leader outside.
Chief political correspondent Suman Mahmud said from the scene that services at the hospital appeared to be on the verge of collapse as BNP supporters flocked to the hospital and nearby areas in Shahbagh on the news that Tarique was to be released sometime in the afternoon.
The rush caused sufferings to the patients and disrupted treatment, Mahmud quoted a BSMMU doctor as saying.
"There's little space to move. We're having great difficulty," said the doctor, who preferred not to be named.
A significant number of enthusiastic people also joined them. They were chanting slogans for the release of Tarique and Khaleda.
An angry mob of supporters assaulted 'reformist' leader and former state minister for education Ehsanul Haque Milon, leaving him bloody. Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal general secretary Moazzem Hossain Alal and police saved him.
Other pro-reforms leaders fled the scene in a hurry seeing the fate of Milon, Mahmud reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, Tarique's wife Zobaida Rahman and other visitors visited him at Hospital.
The inspector general of prisons had told bdnews24.com Tuesday that almost all necessary papers for executing the release had reached his office.
"We are only awaiting the last remaining document now, which may be sent to us any time today (Tuesday).
"It is possible that Tarique Rahman will be released today provided the last bit of paper work is complete and it reaches us," Gen Hasan said Tuesday morning.
Tarique was arrested on March 8 last year, and is currently under treatment in a prisons cell at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital.
As many as 16 cases have been filed against Tarique; one of them involving Daily Dinkal has been disposed of, while he has secured bail in 12 on-trial cases.
Authorities are yet to press charges in three other cases.
The High Court on August 25 granted him six months' interim bail in a Tk 1 crore extortion case and on August 26, another four months' bail in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
Tarique got bail in five cases on August 27, of which three involved extortion charges, one on income tax dodge and another on illegally acquired assets.
On August 28, when the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case involving the suppression of Sabbir murder for which Tarique allegedly took huge sums of money, he got bails in all the 12 cases against him.
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