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From New Nation Online Edition Front Page The chairman of a faction of Jatiya Party and former communications minister, Anwar Hossain Manju, was given a five-year prison sentence for possessing contraband liquor at his residence.
Judge Syed Zahed Mansur of the Metropolitan Special Tribunal-9, who is also the Fourth Assistant Metropolitan Session Judge, pronounced the verdict in the absence of the defendant at about 12:00 noon yesterday, saying the sentence will be effective from the date of his arrest or surrender. The court also fined Manju Tk 10,000, defaulting on which will carry another six months in jail. A case was filed against the former minister with the city's Dhanmondi Police Station under the Narcotics Control Act after the joint forces seized 21 bottles of illegal foreign liquor at his Dhanmondi residence during a raid on March 8 this year. Following the case, Manju obtained bail in the case from the High Court. Sub-Inspector Amirul Islam, who is also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge-sheet to the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate showing nine people as prosecution witnesses. The court reached the verdict after recording the depositions of seven, out of nine prosecution witnesses, including the complainant and the investigation officer of the case in 19 working days. The prosecution earlier pleaded to the court to award the maximum punishment of 10 years of imprisonment in accordance with Section 22 (Gha) of the Narcotics Control Act 1990. However, the judge awarded the convict five years of imprisonment sentence. On June 3 last, the same court framed charges against Manju in his absence and issued a warrant of arrest against him. Despite the judge ordered Manju to appear before the court to defend himself, Manju did not go to the court. Subsequently, his bail was cancelled. Earlier, on May 14 the investigation officer of Dhanmondi police had submitted charge sheet against the accused. Public Prosecutor of Dhaka Ehsanul Huque Shamaji conducted the case on behalf of the prosecution. "We're satisfied with the judgement pronounced by the learned court," he said. However, Anwar Hossain Manju's lawyer said they did not receive "fair judgement" in the case. "We'll appeal to the higher court against this verdict," he said. © Copyright 2003 by ittefaq.com |
