The High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Anjan Chowdhury, one of the key stakeholders of the Square Group, for six weeks in a case filed on charge of hoarding 4,812 tonnes of extra aromatic rice in a warehouse at Gopalganj Bazar in Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
The High Court bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Shahed Nuruddin passed the order after hearing the bail petition filed by Anjan Chowdhury.
Barrister Shafique Ahmed and Barrister Mahbub Shafique appeared at the court hearing on behalf of Anjan Chowdhury.
A mobile court run by the upazila administration of Dinajpur Sadar on June 1 this year launched an operation and found hoarding of 5,124 tonnes of aromatic rice in a warehouse of the Square Food and Beverage Limited.
But the company has permission to stock only 312 tonnes of rice.
Later Biplob Kumar Singh Roy, Food Control Officer of Dinajpur Sadar, filed a case with Dinajpur Police Station against Square Food and Beverage Limited’s owner Aanjan Chowdhury and another one for hoarding extra 4,812 tonnes rice.
In the complaint Biplob Kumar also mentioned that the mobile court doesn’t have any jurisdiction to proceed a trial that involved a huge amount of money. So the complaint had been sent to the Kotwali Police Station for filing a regular case over the issue.
Barrister Mahbub Shafique later said, ‘The case has been recommended to file under Section 6 of the Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956. It has been said there that rice is an essential commodity. So the law has been violated by stockpiling the rice in the warehouse.”
The lawyer further said, “The recommendation clearly stated that the rice that had been stockpiled was aromatic rice. Aromatic rice is not an essential commodity.
Even Basmati rice is not an essential commodity. Since the aromatic rice which was found stockpiled in the warehouse is not an essential commodity, the recommendation of the plaintiff is illegal. As a result, the case cannot continue. As the case cannot be continued, Anjan Chowdhury is entitled to get bail in the case.”
Anjan Chowdhury will surrender to the concerned trial court within six weeks, said the lawyer.
Hoarding by small traders as well as large business groups has been causing rice prices to soar, giving low-income people a hard time. The food minister recently said that six major industrial groups, Square, Pran, City, Akij, Bashundhara and ACI, were mainly to blame for hoarding and the rise in rice prices.
