Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim on Saturday staged a showdown after appearing in public for the first time after being released from jail.
The showdown took place at around 1:30pm in the capital's Dhanmondi area, where the lawmaker paid tributes to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's portrait.
Hundreds of leaders, and activists of Awami League and its associate bodies joined the showdown with cars and a fleet of motorcycles.
For that reason, a gridlock was reported in the area.
Haji Salim, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail over corruption charges, was released from jail on January 17.
On December 6, the Supreme Court granted bail Haji Mohammad Salim.
A five-member full bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique granted bail to the Awami League lawmaker after hearing a petition, challenging the High Court verdict.
Haji Salim, who was in jail over a case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), went to Bangkok for treatment on May 2 and returned home on May 5 last year.
The incident sparked a huge controversy.
On April 27, 2008, Dhaka Special Judge's Court-7 sentenced Haji Salim to a total of 13 years imprisonment over two separate charges brought in the case and fined him Tk20 lakh.
The court also sentenced his wife Gulshan Ara to three years imprisonment for abetting her husband's crime and keeping the ill-gotten wealth in her possession.
Challenging the verdict, Haji Salim filed an appeal with the High Court, against the trial court verdict on October 25, 2009.
Following the appeal, the High Court acquitted Haji Salim of the graft case on January 2, 2011.
However, the ACC then appealed against the High Court verdict to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
On January 12, 2015, the Appellate Division scrapped the High Court verdict and directed the court to hold a rehearing of Haji Salim's appeal and to dispose of the appeal again.
Gulshan Ara had also submitted an appeal in 2013 against the lower court verdict but her appeal was cancelled by the High Court, following her death in 2020.
Irregularities of Salim resurfaced after his son Irfan Salim was arrested for assaulting a navy official in 2020.
