A Habiganj court has granted bail to suspended mayor of Sylhet City Corporation Ariful Haque Chowdhury in the finance minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case.
District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Atabullah passed the order on Sunday morning, Ariful's counsel Advocate Monjur Uddin Ahmed Shahin told the Dhaka Tribune.
Now there is no bar to release the suspended city mayor from jail, the lawyer claimed.
Earlier in the day, Ariful filed bail petition with the court. After hearing the petition, the court granted him bail for 15 days.
He was suspended from his post of Sylhet City Corporation mayor in January last year.
Ariful surrendered before a district court in the murder case on December 30, 2014.
On November 13 of the same year, police submitted a supplementary charge sheet against 35 people including 11 new in Kibria murder case. The freshly-indicted accused included Arif and Habiganj Mayor GK Gaus as well as Harris Chowdhury, a former political adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
On January 27, 2005, five people including Kibria were killed in a grenade attack carried out in a rally in Boidyer Bazar of Habiganj district.