The High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Showkat Aziz Russell, president of Gulshan Club, in two cases filed against him. Russell is also chairman of the Amber Group and son of Partex Group Chairman MA Hashem.
The bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq granted the bail after hearing two separate petitions on Monday. Bail was granted until the police submit probe reports for the two cases.
Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmood represented the businessman at the bail hearing, while Deputy Attorney General M Sarwar Hossain Bappi stood for the state.
On November 2, a Detective Branch (DB) of Police team said they recovered bullets and drugs from a car owned by Russell in Narayanganj, seized on early Saturday.
DB personnel stopped the car in the Signboard area of Siddhirganj around 2:45am on Saturday and seized 28 bullets, 1,200 yaba tablets, 24 bottles of foreign liquor, 28 cans of beer, and Tk22,380 in cash from the car, Narayanganj police said in a media briefing on Saturday.
Later, two cases under Arms and Narcotics Control Acts were filed with Siddhirganj police station.
The Amber Group chairman alleged that his wife Farah Russell and son Anaf Aziz were picked up from their Gulshan residence by law enforcement members for purposes of extortion.
He said policemen, some in uniform and some in plainclothes, picked them up in the early hours of Saturday.
According to Russell they were picked up a day after the Narayanganj Superintendent of Police (SP) Harun-Ur-Rashid seized Russell’s car from Dhaka Club on October 31.
Russell says SP Harun was behind his version of the several above mentioned incidents since his company Amber Denim refused to pay the SP Tk8 crore in extortion money.
Narayanganj SP transferred
On Sunday, Harun was removed from his Narayanganj SP post, amid allegations of picking up the family of a businessman from Dhaka.
He was ordered to join Bangladesh Police headquarters with immediate effect, according to an order issued by the Public Security Division of the Home Ministry.
The notification however did not specify any reason for the transfer.
According to a media report by Newsbangladesh.com, owned by the Amber Group, Russell filed a written complaint with the police about receiving extortion calls on May 5.
Neither SP Harun nor Dhaka Range Additional DIG Mahbubur Rahman were available for comment, despite repeated phone calls.
