Tarique Rahman, 7 others exempted from extortion charges

A Dhaka court on Wednesday exempted eight people, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman, from extortion charges accepting a final report filed by the police in the case.

Dhaka additional chief metropolitan magistrate Sanaullah passed the order in the morning.

The seven other people, who have been relieved of the charges, are - Gias Uddin Al Mamun, Obaidullah Khandaker, Kamruzzaman, Engineer Mahbubul Alam, Engineer AKM Shoyeb Bashuri, Azizul Karim Tarek and Monijur Rahman alias Manik.

Investigation officer detective branch (DB) inspector Md Sazzad Hossain filed the final report with the general registration wing of the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court on 5 November, pleading to relieve the eight people of the charges as it did not find the allegations brought against them true.

On 7 May 2009, the complaint filed an affidavit through a notary public, saying the allegations brought against the accused were false and that he filed the complaint under the pressure of vested quarters.

He doesn’t want to pursue the case anymore, the complainant said.

During the investigation, the complainant also told the investigation officer that he didn’t even know the accused and was forced to file the fabricated allegations under political and administrative pressure.

Contractor farm Abdul Monem Limited general manager Khairul Bashar had filed the case in 2007 for demanding Taka 103.1 million in extortion.