Young entrepreneur Jannati Hossain was released from the Dhaka Central jail yesterday evening, three days after securing bail from the Supreme Court.
Jannati’s family members received her at the jail gate.
She had been in jail since July last year in a murder case filed over the death of her business partner Mostamsir Ashraf in a road accident.
On March 12, a High Court bench granted her bail in two cases – one filed by police and another by Mostamsir’s family. The court also said although there was no evidence of planned killing in this case, the trial court would examine whether there is any element of murder charge in it.
Later the government challenged the bail order. The Appellate Division upheld the High Court verdict on Monday.
Jannati was denied bail by the lower courts several times while judges of two High Court benches felt embarrassed to hear her bail petitions. On December 10, another bench issued a ruling on the authorities concerned to explain why Jannati should not be granted bail in the murder case.
Jannati crashed Mostamsir’s car into a parked police van near the capital’s Mohakhali flyover on July 11, 2014. Mostamsir who was in the front passenger seat died on way to a nearby hospital. Tejgaon police sued injured Jannati for reckless driving and arrested her.
But after 10 days, Mostamsir’s family lodged a case against Jannati, her husband Raymen Siddique, her brothers Jubair and Junaid and father Delwar Hossain alleging it was a planned murder to take over his business. The plaintiff, however, did not mention how Mostamsir had been murdered.
Mostamsir is the son of Khan Mohammad Abdul Mannan, a former district court judge now serving as the inspector general of registration (land). Of the 15 people named as prosecution witnesses, four are high-profile government officials.
Jannati’s family members allege that Mannan was influencing the case. However, Mostamsir’s father denied the allegations.
According to the post mortem report, Mostamsir died in an accident and police said his seat belt was not fastened. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority report stated that the car suffered a mechanical failure.
