Hoarding rice: HC grants bail to Anjan Chowdhury
The court also asked him to surrender to the trial court after the expiry of the bail period.
The High Court (HC) has granted anticipatory bail to Square Group's Managing Director Anjan Chowdhury for six weeks in a case filed over illegally hoarding rice in its warehouses in Dinajpur.
The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Shahed Nuruddin passed the order on Monday after hearing a bail plea filed by his lawyer.
The court also asked him to surrender before the trial court after the expiry of the bail period to face proceedings in the case filed with Dinajpur Kotwali police station.
Senior lawyers Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Barrister Mahbub Shafique moved for the Square Food MD in the court while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state.
Earlier on 31 May, food ministry officials and local administration seized at least 5,124 tonnes of rice worth Tk41 crore from six warehouses of Square Food and Beverage's rice mill in Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
Acting on a tip-off, a team led by Dinajpur Sadar UNO Murtuja Al Muhid conducted the drive at the warehouses in Gopalpur Bazar of the upazila on that night.
During the drive, the team arrested one Zayed Hossain, in charge of the mill, in this connection and handed him over to the police.
Biplob Kumar Singh Roy, food controller of Dinajpur Sadar upazila, filed a case against Anjan Chowdhury, also the owner of Square Food and Beverage's rice mill, and Zayed Hossain, in-charge of the mill, confirmed Officer-in-Charge Mozaffar Hossain of Dinajpur Kotwali police station.
"The company had permission to store only 312 tonnes of rice. However, they stored additional 4,812 tonnes of rice illegally," said the UNO.
