A Dhaka court today granted bail to model and Miss Bangladesh Foundation Chairperson Meghna Alam in an extortion case filed with Dhanmondi Police Station.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sanaullah passed the order after her lawyer Mohima Badhan submitted an application seeking bail, reports The Daily Star.
There is no legal bar for her release from the jail, said her lawyer Badhan.
In the petition, lawyer Badhan sought bail on the grounds that no specific allegation was brought against Meghna.
She was implicated in the case filed for "harassment", argued her lawyer, adding that as a woman, she should be granted bail.
The prosecution opposed the petition, saying she should not be granted bail because the charges against her were found to be true.
Upon hearing both the sides, the magistrate granted her bail upon a bond of Tk 5,000 with two guarantors.
In the order, the magistrate said it was not clear whom she was extorting from.
Moreover, Meghna Alam is a woman. According to the provision of the Criminal Procedure Code, she has a right to get bail as a woman, said the magistrate in his order.
Meghna was shown arrested in the case on April 17 following a petition filed by its investigation officer Md Akhtar Morshed, an inspector of the Detective Branch of police. Police filed the case against Meghna, her associate Dewan Samir and two others on April 15.
According to the case statement, Meghna and Samir, along with two to three unidentified others, are allegedly active members of an "organised fraud ring".
They reportedly used "attractive" women to lure foreign diplomats and representatives of foreign missions in Bangladesh, as well as local businessmen, into romantic and illicit relationships and then applied various tactics to extort money by threatening to tarnish their reputation, the case statement said.
Samir is the CEO of the business organisation KAWAII Group. He is also the owner of Sanjana International, a manpower firm. He had previously owned a company called MIRI International Event Management Ltd.
As part of a scheme to gain access to foreign diplomats and businessmen, Samir allegedly appointed "attractive and smart" women as brand ambassadors, including Meghna, in his companies to use them to blackmail envoys and extract large sums of money, the case statement said.
Meghna was picked up from her residence in the city`s Bashundhara Residential Area on April 9. A day later, another Dhaka court ordered Meghna to be kept in jail for 30 days under the Special Powers Act of 1974 following an application by the Detective Branch.
Amid criticism over the process of her arrest, the High Court on April 13 issued a rule asking relevant government authorities to explain in two weeks why her arrest under the Special Powers Act should not be declared illegal.
