Appellate Division adjourns hearing on Sikder brothers’ application

The Appellate Division has adjourned the hearing of an application filed by Ron Haque Sikder, managing director of Sikder Group, and his brother Dipu Haque Sikder, seeking permission to appeal the High Court's bail plea rejection order.

A bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, issued the order on Sunday.

The hearing on the matter has been adjourned till Thursday.

Earlier on August 9, the Appellate Division adjourned the hearing on the plea for two weeks. 

The High Court released a 112-page full text of the bail rejection order verdict with some observations, terming the Sikder brothers’ bail plea in advance from abroad as “unprecedented and the first in history.”

On July 20, the High Court bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal rejected the anticipatory bail petition filed by the two accused, following a virtual hearing.

The bench also ordered the accused to provide 10,000 items of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Prime Minister's Relief and Welfare Fund within two weeks as a fine, since they submitted bail petitions beyond legal statutes and thus wasted the court's valuable time.

On July 2, Sikder Group chief Ron Haque Sikder and his brother, who are now in Thailand, filed the online application seeking anticipatory bail from the High Court’s virtual bench.

On May 7, Ron and Dipu Haque Sikder reportedly tortured and attempted to murder Exim Bank Managing Director (MD) Md Haider Ali Mia, and Additional MD, Md Firoz Hossain. They shot at Exim Bank officials in Sikder House in Dhaka's Banani when the bankers refused to overvalue their mortgaged property for a Tk500 crore loan.

A case was filed in this connection with Gulshan police station on May 19.

National Bank Limited, a concern of the Sikder Group, denied the allegations through their lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder, saying the case was filed to socially defame them.

The brothers took a private air ambulance of R&R Aviation, another Sikder Group concern, and left the country on the morning of May 25. News of their departure came to light on May 29.