The High Court yesterday suspended a sentence of 35 years’ imprisonment for Superintendent of Police Mostafa Kamal in a case filed for demanding Tk50 lakh in bribe from the SA Paribahan proprietor in December 2002.
The bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Zafar Ahmed also granted the police official bail as an appeal had been lodged against the sentence pronounced by Dhaka Special Judge Court 3.
According to the statement of the case filed on November 20, 2003, SA Paribahan owner Salauddin Ahmed and staff members of his office were going to Sylhet by a private car on December 22, 2002 with a bag of Tk 20 lakh.
A team of Habiganj police halted their car, seized the money and asked them to lodge a general diary with the local police station asking for security.
But after their arrival at the police station, the then SP Mostafa Kamal ordered the policemen on duty to detain Salauddin and his officials and filed a money laundering case against them. The SP and Inspector (now retired) Wahid Miah also demanded Tk50 lakh from the SA Paribahan Head Office in exchange for their release.
In his verdict on December 19 last year, Judge Md Motahar Hossain of Dhaka Special Judge Court 3 acquitted the inspector and sentenced SP Mostafa, who is now posted at Syedpur Railway.
The court also fined Mostafa Tk30 lakh, defaulting which he will have to spend another year in jail. Supreme Court lawyer Rokanuddin Mahmud contended for the police officer while Deputy Attorney General Khandaker Diliruzzaman represented the state.
