The High Court (HC) has granted the bail to innocent Manik Hawlader, who is serving jail sentence instead of real convict Manik Miah of Bhedarganj in Shariatpur in connection with a drug related case.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam granted the bail on Monday (June 28) following a writ petition filed by Manik Hawlader’s wife Salma Begum who moved the High Court on March 2 demanding her husband’s release and compensation.
The High Court, however, asked the real culprit Manik Miah to surrender to the court. The chief judicial magistrate of Shariatpur has also been asked to record statement of two investigation officers of the case.
Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy confirmed the matter. He said that a judicial probe report was also placed before the High Court in this regard.
Earlier on March 7, the High Court directed the authorities concerned to conduct a judicial enquiry into the incarceration of the innocent man. The chief judicial magistrate of Shariatpur was also ordered to conduct the enquiry to find out the real convict and to submit the probe report to the High Court.
It was known that four men were accused in a case filed over the seizure of 668 bottles of phensedyl from a vehicle on June 2 in 2009 at Salanga in Sirajganj. One of the accused Manik Miah was arrested the next day. He secured bail from the High Court that year.
In the bail documents, Manik Miah named Manik Hawlader’s parents Nazrul Islam and Razia Begum as his parents. He mentioned Manik Hawlader’s address of Alam Chan Bepari Kandi village under Sakhipur union of Ward 9 of Shariatpur as his own. Manik Miah went into hiding after securing bail.
A Sirajganj court on February 11 in 2019 jailed Manik Miah and three others for four years in the case.
The fraud came to light after Bhedarganj police arrested Manik Hawlader on November 28 last year.
It has been learned that Manik Miah is the son of Ibrahim Mridha and Lutfa Begum of Malotkandi village under Sakhipur union of Bhedorganj. Both the victim and the convict hailed from the same Sakhipur union but their villages are different.
