A Dhaka court today withdrew the Tk 3 crore extortion case against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury.

Judge Mozammel Hossain (in-charge) of the Special Judge's Court-5 withdrew the case after granting a petition submitted by Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu.

On April 14, Abdullah Abu filed the petition before the court to withdraw the extortion case against Hasina, also the Awami League chief.

The High Court on April 12 vacated its stay order on proceedings of the case.

Earlier on September 16 last year, the court stayed proceedings of the case and also granted bail to Hasina following a petition filed by her.

Abdullah Abu earlier recommended that 11 other cases against the prime minister be withdrawn as, he mentioned, those were filed to “tarnish the image of the Awami League chief and her previous government”.

On June 13, 2007 Azam J Chowdhury filed the case against Hasina and his cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim with Gulshan police station.

But police later also implicated Hasina's sister Sheikh Rehana in the charge sheet.

The cases include those filed by the last BNP-led government for alleged graft in the purchase of MiG-29s for the air force and Frigate for the navy, and in the construction of Bangabandhu Planetarium (now Bhashani Novo Theatre) and for 'illegal entry' in Dhaka cantonment area to visit the now deceased writer Humayun Azad at the CMH.

Source: The Daily Star