The Supreme Court has upheld a High Court ruling from December 13, granting bail to expelled Jubo League leader SM Golam Kibria Shamim, also known as GK Shamim, sentenced to life imprisonment in an arms case.
Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan led a five-member bench of the Appellate Division in passing the order, dismissing a petition filed by the state contesting the High Court bail decision.
Additionally, the apex court instructed the relevant High Court bench to hear and dispose of GK Shamim's appeal against the trial court's life-sentence verdict within two months.
On September 20, 2019, during anti-casino operations, the Rapid Action Battalion raided GK Shamim's offices in Niketan, Gulshan, recovering firearms, a huge sum of cash, fixed deposit receipts and foreign alcoholic beverages.
The elite police unit detained Shamim and seven of his bodyguards at the time, subsequently filing several cases against them.
They have been sentenced in two cases so far.
On September 25, 2022, a Dhaka court sentenced Shamim and his seven bodyguards to life imprisonment in the aforementioned arms case.
On July 17, 2023, another Dhaka court gave Shamim 10 years in prison in a case under the Money Laundering Prevention Act and his bodyguards four years.