Meghna Alam granted bail in extortion case

A Dhaka court on Monday granted bail to model Meghna Alam, who was detained under the controversial Special Powers Act and later shown arrested in an extortion case filed with Dhanmondi Police Station.

Judge of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka, Md Sanaullah, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Meghna Alam.

Lawyers Mohsin Reza, Tahmim Mohima Badhon and Sadman Saqib, who represented Meghna Alam, appeared in the court hearing. Now there is no legal bar for her release from jail, said lawyer Badhon. In the petition, lawyers sought bail on the grounds that no specific allegation was made against Meghna.

Meghna was shown arrested on April 17 in the case following a petition filed by investigation officer Md Akhtar Morshed, an inspector of the Detective Branch of police. Police filed the case against Meghna, her associate Dewan Samir and two others on April 15.

According to the case statement, Meghna and Samir, along with two to three unidentified others, are allegedly active members of an organised fraud ring.

They reportedly "used" attractive women to lure foreign diplomats and representatives of foreign missions in Bangladesh, as well as local businessmen, into romantic and illicit relationships and then applied various tactics to extort money by threatening to tarnish their reputation, the case statement said.

Meghna was picked up from her residence in the city's Bashundhara Residential Area on April 9. A day later, another Dhaka court ordered Meghna to be kept in jail for 30 days under the Special Powers Act of 1974 following an application by the Detective Branch.

Amid criticism over the process of her arrest, the High Court on April 13 issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in two weeks as to why her arrest under the Special Powers Act should not be declared illegal.

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