Chamber court upholds HC bail order to bdnews24 editor-in-chief

The Appellate Division Chamber Court has upheld the High Court's (HC) anticipatory bail order granted to bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi in a case filed over illegal acquisition of assets.

Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Justice Nuruzzaman's passed the order on Thursday after conducting a virtual hearing on an application filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The court also fixed September 21 for hearing on the leave to appeal seeking stay on the HC's anticipatory bail order in front of the full bench of the Appellate Division headed by the Chief Justice.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan stood in court on behalf of the ACC while lawyer Abdul Matin Khasru and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association AM Amin Uddin appeared for Tawfiq Imroz Khalidi.

On August 26, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Mostafizur Rahman granted Khalidi an eight-week anticipatory bail in the case.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said, "When the chamber judge wanted to know the bail period, I said that it was till October 26."

"When he asked why I applied for leave to appeal and why was my application late, I said that I filed the application the day after the HC bail order but could not get the attested copy of the court order in time."

"The judge then said he would hear the case in full-court on September 21," added Khurshid.

Earlier on July 30, the ACC filed a case against Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of online news portal bdnews24.com, for allegedly depositing money in different banks of the country which have no "legal source".

According to the statement of the case filed under Section 27 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act- 2004, Toufique Imrose Khalidi has deposited Tk42 crore in four different banks.

Dhaka Senior Special Judge Imrul Kayesh has set October 8 for the submission of the investigation report in the case.