Former home minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has been acquitted in two cases -- one filed with Ramna police station on charges of acquiring assets beyond known sources of income and another with Gulshan police station for allegations of sabotage.
He had previously been sentenced to 21 months in jail in the Gulshan police station case.
On Tuesday, Judges Manzurul Hasan of Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-8 and Abul Kashem of Court-1 announced the verdicts.
Defence lawyer Anisur Rahman confirmed the information.
According to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) case, on December 18, 2007, the ACC filed a case at Ramna police station accusing Altaf Hossain Chowdhury of acquiring assets worth Tk15.3 crore under his name and that of his wife, Suraiya Akhter Chowdhury, concealing this information, and thereby committing punishable offences under sections 26(2) and 27(1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004.
Meanwhile, the sabotage case alleges that on June 4, 2011, the accused obstructed police operations, attacked them, vandalized vehicles on the road, and set them on fire during an illegal assembly in front of the water tank at Wireless Gate in Gulshan’s Mohakhali area.
Following an investigation, sub-inspector Kamrul Hasan Talukder of Gulshan police station submitted the charge sheet on April 29, 2014.
On April 25, 2022, the court framed charges against the accused, initiating the trial.
During the proceedings, the court recorded testimony from seven out of 12 witnesses.
On December 28, Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury sentenced Altaf Hossain Chowdhury to 21 months in prison.