Ruling party lawmaker Golam Maula Roni was freed from Kashimpur Jail yesterday, five days after he had obtained bail from the High Court.
Roni had been imprisoned for 54 days in three separate cases – attempt to murder of journalists, extortion and issuance of threats.
“The lawmaker was released from prison after we verified all documents related to his bails from the High Court. He walked out of jail around 11pm,” said Jahangir Kabir, superintendent of Kashimpur Jail 2, an extension of the Dhaka Central Jail.
The Awami League MP was arrested on July 24 in connection with a case filed on July 20 by an official of private satellite channel Independent Television, owned by the Beximco Group, with Shahbagh police station for attempting to kill two of its journalists at his office on Topkhana Road in the capital.
Roni obtained bail from a lower court on July 21.
But the bail was cancelled following an appeal of the plaintiff that the accused had threatened him, and an arrest warrant was issued against the lawmaker on July 24. Police arrested Roni within hours after the warrant for arrest was issued.
Two more cases were filed against Roni with Golachipa police station in his Patuakhali constituency on charges of extortion and issuance of threats.
Roni was remanded several times in connection with the cases and later granted bails from the HC on September 11.
Jail Superintendent Jahangir said they had received one of the bail orders on Sunday night in connection with the case filed with Shahbagh police station and the two others around 8am yesterday.
In reply to a query, he said the bail orders had taken time to reach Kashimpur Jail 2 as those came via the lower courts concerned.
Roni and some of his associates allegedly beat up Imitaz Sony, a reporter, and Muhasin Mukul, a camera crew, of the television mercilessly when the two had gone to cover an alleged bribery incident on July 20 at the lawmaker’s shipping business office of Saybold Group on the ninth floor of Meherba Plaza.
Apart from damaging the camera and taking away its flash memory card, the journalists were also confined in the office.
The newsmen claimed that they had been watching Roni for an episode of their channel’s investigative programme titled “Taalash.”
Roni also filed a case with Shahbagh police station against the two journalists, but the police in its report submitted to the court said the allegations were baseless.
