Chamber Court has upheld the bail granted to former Superintendent of Police (SP) Babul Akter by the High Court in the case concerning the murder of his wife, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu.
Legal experts have confirmed that there are now no legal impediments to his release from custody.
On Wednesday (4 December) Justice Md Rezaul Haque of the Appellate Division's Chamber Court delivered this ruling.
After spending nearly three years and seven months in prison, Babul Akter was granted bail by the High Court last Wednesday.
Subsequently, Mitu's father, Mosharraf Hossain, appealed to the Supreme Court's Appellate Division to have the bail order overturned.
Earlier, on 14 August, Babul Akter had submitted a bail application to the Chattogram Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Md Jasim Uddin. However, the court rejected his plea on 18 August.
On the morning of 5 June 2016, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu was brutally murdered near the GEC intersection in Chattogram while escorting her son to his school bus.
She was both shot and hacked to death.
At the time, Babul Akter was the SP of Chattogram but had recently been transferred to Dhaka.
The murder occurred shortly after he assumed his new post.
Following the incident, Chattogram’s Detective Branch (DB) police investigated the case for three and a half years without making any significant progress.
In January 2020, under court directives, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) took over the case.
In May 2021, the PBI concluded that Mitu's murder had been orchestrated by her husband, Babul Akter.
Investigators alleged that he paid a sum of Tk3 lakh to the hired killers through intermediaries.
Subsequently, the PBI filed a conclusive report, and Mitu's father lodged a separate case.
However, after the court dismissed Mosharraf Hossain’s case, the original case against Babul Akter was revived.
In May 2021, he was arrested by the PBI.
On 13 September 2022, the PBI submitted a charge sheet implicating Babul Akter and six others.
The Chattogram Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court accepted the charge sheet on 10 October 2022.
The trial began on 9 April last year with the testimony of Mitu’s father, former police officer Mosharraf Hossain.
Out of the 97 witnesses listed in the case, testimonies from 52 individuals, including Mitu’s mother, Shaheda Mosharraf, have already been recorded.
The case is currently being heard at the Chattogram Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court.
