A Dhaka court Monday refused bail to Khaleda Zia and ordered her to jail after security forces arrested the former prime minister early morning, report bdnews24.com/UNB.
She was driven to a special jail, sited in the Sangsad Bhaban complex, at 10:15am. The house reserved for the speaker of the parliament will be used as the special jail.
Metropolitan magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah rejected the bail petitions of Khaleda and Arafat. Khaleda was soon driven to the sub-jail at the Jatiya Sangsad premises. The prosecutor asked for ten days police remand of Arafat but the court granted seven days.
Earlier on Sunday ACC filed the case with Tejgaon thana at about midnight against Khaleda, her son Arafat and eleven others.
The former Prime Minister was accused of illegally awarding contract to a private firm
for container cargo handling at Kamalapur container terminal and Chittagong Port by abusing official power in 2003, accrued financial gains and thus inflicted Tk 10 billion (1,000 crore) loss to the national exchequer.
Khaleda would be kept in the special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises that also houses another makeshift prison where former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been detained since July 16.
Personal staffers for Khaleda's family, Yusuf and Amir, were also taken to court.
Khaleda arrived in court in sari and sunglasses and Coco was in jeans and T-shirt.
Security officials battled chaos in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for Dhaka.
The embattled former prime minister was driven away from her cantonment home to court in a Nissan Patrol car (Dhaka Metro Gha: 02-3327) in a security bubble. Coco was in a different car.
Lawyers who defended Khaleda and her son in court were Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, Sanaullah Miah, Masud Ahmed Talukder, Lutfe Alam and Khorshed Alam.
Prosecution officer Abdur Rashid represented the ACC in court.
Police and RAB officers and intelligence agents swarmed the road to the Shaheed Mainul Road residence of the BNP chief.
Another group of lawyers, led by Barrister Mahbubuddin Khokan, tried to push their way into court, but RAB officers stopped them, sparking an angry exchange of words.
Security officers put in place a huge security arrangement on the road to the CMM's Court, but a huge crowd seemed to have stretched it.
Meanwhile Khaleda Zia Monday said in the court that false cases had been filed against her to split the party and destroy her family.
Khaleda alleged that she was a victim of conspiracy and asked the people to pray for her.
"Pray for me so that I can work for you in future as I did in the past."
Standing for 20 minutes in the courtroom, she told the court, "I was asked to leave the country, but I did not. I love the country. If I had gone, I would not have faced cases."
Terming her late husband and slain president Ziaur Rahman the proclaimer of independence, Khaleda said: "I am the wife of the declarer of the liberation war.
"The Zia family has no greed. I do not need money. The same holds true for my sons. We love the country."
The BNP chief protested her innocence and said, "These cases have been filed to harass me. They are totally false and baseless."
"Today, they are conspiring not only against me, but also against the country. They are engaged in plotting against the BNP," she said to the court of metropolitan magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah
"BNP is the party of the people of the country. If elections are held now, BNP will undoubtedly win."
She pleaded to the court for justice. "The court is the last shelter for people. I want justice, so does my son. You will see to it that not only me, but also no man is harassed in such way. Many are being harassed after being charged in false cases."
Her son Arafat Rahman Koko stood beside her.
The investigation officer in his separate reports to the court said Khaleda was named in the ejahar of the case. As Prime Minister of the alliance government she accrued financial benefits by illegally and abusing power award contract to a private firm for container cargo handling by abusing power.
"Khaleda Zia should be detained in jail hajot until investigation into the case is completed," pleaded the AC Mokbul Hossain appearing on behalf of the state.
The report further said a petition has already been made for accepting the case also under the relevant rules of the Emergency Rules.
Opposing the bail of Arafat Rahman the prosecutor said further interrogation of him was needed to ascertain how and from whom he had taken money in exchange of illegal awarding of the contract.
Lawyers appeared for Khaleda Zia and Arafat Rahman pleaded for their bail.
They submitted that Khaleda and her son were innocent. The case was politically motivated to keep Khaleda out of the future election race.
The lawyers told the court that Arafat was ill and expressed apprehension that his condition would deteriorate in the 'inhuman' torture meted out in the joint interrogation cell. They pleaded against giving him to the police remand.
Meanwhile Koko fell sick at the magistrate's court Monday morning.
Lawyers pleading for his bail told the court that Arafat felt pain in his chest as magistrate Abdul Fattah ordered 7-day police remand for his interrogation against the government's prayer for 10 days.
The magistrate asked the police to interrogate Arafat carefully during the remand period.
Witnesses said Arafat left the Ejlas and got into a red Pajero jeep with the help of some police personnel at about 9:50 am.
Police sources said Arafat had been under joint interrogation.
In the build-up to the arrest, scores of security officers in plainclothes drove into Dhaka cantonment before dawn, as the arrest of the BNP chairperson loomed in the horizon.
Plainclothes officers arrived at the house at around 5:15am and asked Khaleda and Koko to "get ready" in a clear indication of arrest, house staffer Ruhul Amin told bdnews24.com at 5:40am.
At least 10 cars in the first batch drove into the cantonment shortly after 5am, followed by another convoy of up to 25 cars, witnesses reported from the scene.
Meanwhile, the CMM court Monday issued warrant for search of the residence of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Khaleda and her younger son Arafat Rahman were accused of Tk 10 billion scam case filed with Tejgaon thana Sunday night. Both of them arrested Monday morning.
Khaleda arrested, sent to jail: Koko placed on 7-day remand
FE Team | Published: September 04, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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