Ron Haque Sikder's bail extended until 11 April
A Dhaka court has extended bail of the Sikder Group managing director Ron Haque Sikder untill 11 April.
Ron has been charged of abducting and threatening to kill two bank officials.
Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury of Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court on Wednesday passed the order after hearing pleas for granting Ron’s permanent bail and exempting him from appearing before the court.
During the hearing, plaintiff's lawyer appealed for rejecting the bail of Ron.
During the hearing, prosecution lawyer Miah Mohammad Kauser, seeking cancellation of Ron’s bail, said that Ron fled abroad amid the pandemic-time shutdown and appealed for bail from there. The court earlier had fined the accused for wasting time.
Kauser said Ron dared to violet laws while fleeing the country. He didn’t surrender to the court, rather police arrested him upon his return to Bangladesh to attend funeral of his father. The court granted his bail on humanitarian ground.
Seeking cancellation of Ron’s bail, the prosecution requested the court to send Ron to prison. Ron’s brother Dipu Haque Sikder, another accused in the same case, has still been absconding.
The defense lawyers said their clients didn’t misuse the privilege of the bail. Ron was present before the court during the hearing.
On 19 May 2020, Exim Bank director Lt Col (retd) Serajul Islam filed a case with Gulshan police station accusing Ron and his brother Dipu of torturing and attempting to kill the bank's managing director Mohammed Haider Ali Miah and additional managing director Mohammad Feroz Hossain.
According to the case document, the victims had refused to falsely inflate the value of Sikder brothers' property that would be mortgaged for a loan of Tk 500 crore.
To avert police arrest, the accused brothers allegedly fled the country to Bangkok, several media houses reported.
Ron returned to Bangladesh on 12 February, as his father Zainul Haque Sikder, former chairman of the Sikder Group, passed away at a Dubai-based hospital two days earlier.
A team of Detective Branch of police arrested Ron soon after he landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 12 February. He was produced before the court on that very day. The court granted him bail until 10 March.