Top Drug Admin official sent to jail for not testifying in court

The Drug Court has sent a top Drug Administration official to jail for failing to turn up to testify in a case involving deaths of children from paracetamol. DGDA Director Md Abul Khair Chowdhury, the plaintiff of a fake paracetamol case, was summoned by the court 18 times for deposition but did not turn up. On Thursday when he finally presented himself at the court, Judge Md Abdur Rashid took his statement and sent him to jail. From May 2012, despite repeated court summons and warrants, he tried to divert justice by dodging the court 18 times. This act of his helped the accused, the judge observed. State counsel Shahin Ahmed Khan said the court fixed Sunday for his interrogation. Abul Khair filed a case against BCI Pharmaceuticals in 1992 following the death of children from fake paracetamol. The accused are BCI directors Shahjahan Sarker, Shamsul Haque, Nurunnahar, production manager Tajul Haque, quality control manager Ayesha Khatun and Executive Director ASM Badruddoza. Apart from Sarker, all the others have been absconding from the start. Charges were pressed in the case in 1993 and the court indicted them in 1994. The case was in a limbo from that year to March 2012 because of a High Court order, according to bdnews24.com.