Suspended mayors Arif, GK Gaus denied bail
Habiganj: A Habigang court on Monday rejected the bail petitions of suspended Sylhet City Corporation mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury and suspended Habiganj municipality mayor GK Gaus in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act in connection with the former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria murder.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Nishat Sultana passed the order after hearing the bail pleas filed by their lawyers.
The Ministry of Local Government on 7 January this year suspended the SCC and Habiganj municipality mayors as they were charge-sheeted accused in the Kibria murder case.
On 30 December last, a Habiganj court sent Arif, also a BNP central leader, to jail rejecting his bail prayer. Nearly a month ago, the court accepted the supplementary charge-sheet filed against 35 people, including Arif and Gaus, by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police in connection with the killing of five people, including Shah AMS Kibria.
Five people, including former Finance Minister Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack on a public meeting of local Awami League at Baidder Bazar in Sadar upazila on 27 January 2005.
Awami League leader Abdul Mazid Khan filed two cases–one for murder and the other under the Explosive Substances Act–with the Habiganj Police Station the following day.