UP Chairman Selim’s anticipatory bail stayed, asked to surrender within 7 days

The appellate division of the Supreme Court has stayed the anticipatory bail, previously granted by the High Court, to Chandpur's Laxmipur union parishad Chairman Selim Khan in a case filed for illegally amassing wealth worth Tk34.5 crore beyond known source of income.

Appellate Division Chamber Judge M Enayetur Rahim passed the order on Tuesday (20 September) after hearing the application filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking to stay the High Court's bail order.

The court also ordered Selim Khan to surrender before the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court within seven days, confirmed advocate Md Khurshid Alam Khan.

Previously on 14 September, the High Court granted four weeks anticipatory bail to Selim Khan in the case.

On 18 September, ACC appealed to the Appellate Division seeking a stay on the order. The application was heard on Tuesday (20 September).

According to the lawyers, in view of Selim Khan's application seeking anticipatory bail in the case, on 14 August, another bench of the High Court ordered him to surrender before the concerned court in Dhaka within three weeks.

However, due to a mistake in the case number, he appeared in the lower court but his surrender was not accepted.

As three weeks had already passed to correct the case number, the amended application was dismissed.

After that, Selim Khan again appealed to the High Court for anticipatory bail.

On 1 August this year, the ACC filed a case against Selim Khan on allegation of acquiring illegal wealth worth Tk34.5 crore and concealing the information of wealth worth Tk67 lakh.

After verifying the asset statement submitted by him, evidence of concealing information of assets amounting to Tk66.99 lakh was found.

Besides, the investigation of the ACC found evidence of acquisition of wealth worth more than Tk34 crore beyond known income sources.

On 20 September 2020, the ACC issued a notice to Selim Khan and his wife Shahanara Begum, asking for an account of their assets after finding preliminary evidence of acquiring illegal assets.

His total income was found to be Tk61.72 lakh, which came from his salary and allowance received as the chairman of the union parishad and from his loans.