Court Correspondent :
Monir Hossain, known as “Golden Monir”, was acquitted in a case filed in connection with possession 7 kg of gold ornaments, a huge amount of foreign currency “illegally” and Tk 1.09 crore after the court found “inconsistencies in testimonies” of the witnesses.
Additional Public Prosecutor Mahbubur Rahman of Dhaka confirmed the development to the media on Tuesday after Judge Tahsin Iftekhar of the Metropolitan Special Tribunal-15 of Dhaka on Sunday delivered the acquittal order in the case filed under the Special Powers Act.
He said the court acquitted Monir of the charge, after finding no cogent grounds to punish the accused.
Mahbubur Rahman said four civilians told the court that they were pressurized by the RAB to sign blank papers (seizure list) even though they were not present at the place of occurrence during the recovery of gold, arms and other evidence.
Moreover, police witnesses did not corroborate the statements of other witnesses. So, the court acquitted the accused, added the state lawyer. Asked about the appeal, the public prosecutor said he would decide after getting a certified copy of the full judgment.
In his judgment, the court said Golden Monir submitted tax on the gold ornaments seized by RAB. Moreover, he bought those by his legal income, said the judgment.
The court also said RAB mentioned in their First Information Report (FIR) that the date of occurrence was November 21, 2020 by overwriting but the four neutral witnesses mentioned in their statements during the trial that the date of occurrence was on November 20 of 2020. So, the benefit of doubt would be in favour of the accused, the court said.
A total of 12 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant, testified before the court.
On November 20, 2020, RAB arrested Monir with arms, bullets, foreign liquor and foreign currency, 7kg of gold ornaments and Taka 1.9 crore in cash from his residence.
Later, RAB filed three cases against him under the Arms Act, the Narcotics Control Act and the Special Powers Act.
On July 12 of 2021, Investigation Officer Abdul Malek, Inspector of the Detective Branch, submitted a charge sheet of the gold case to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka.
On October 10 of that year, the court framed charges against Monir in the case.
The trial of the drug case is pending with another Dhaka court while the money laundering case is under investigation.