Deposition in Hasina extortion case shifted again

A Dhaka court Monday deferred witness deposition for the third time in a Tk 30 million (3.0 crore) extortion case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and others, reports bdnews24.com.brThe court set Sept 8 for providing copies of the higher court ruling in the case. Judge Md Ashraf Hossain of Special Sessions Judge's Court-5 gave the order Monday morning.brEarlier, the High Court (HC) bench of justices Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mashuk Hossain Ahmed ordered the government to explain in six weeks why the case would not be declared illegal.brThe defence lawyers seeking deferment of proceedings said to the court, A writ petition has been filed with the higher court in the case and the higher court ruled upon the government in this connection.brWe, therefore, would request deferment of the case proceedings in this court until the higher court's disposal.brOpposing the defence move, the prosecution lawyers said as the HC had not stayed the case and only ruled upon the government, the trial should go ahead.brThe court under the circumstances ordered the defence lawyers to submit copy of the higher court's ruling on Sept 8.brPlaintiff Azam J Chowdhury and Hasina's cousin former minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, another accused in the case, were present in the court.brEarlier on August 26, witness deposition could not be carried out as the plaintiff was not present.brBusinessman Chowdhury filed the case with Gulshan police on June 13 last year. Later charges were also pressed against Hasina's sister Sheikh Rehana.brChowdhury, however, denied having named Hasina in the case that says while the Awami League was in power the accused persons took Tk 29.9 million (2.99 crore) in bribes from the litigant at different times in 2001 in exchange for landing the work of setting up Siddhirganj power station project.brHasina was arrested on July 16 last year and was shown arrested in the case, the same day, after the case was brought under the emergency powers rules.brThe government released Hasina from detention for eight weeks on June 11. She is currently in the US seeking medical treatment.