The High Court on Wednesday acquitted former state minister for home affairs and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Lutfozzaman Babar in an arms case, overturning the 17-year jail sentence handed to him by a trial court in 2007.
The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akhter delivered the verdict allowing Babar鈥檚 appeal against the lower court judgment.
Babar was arrested by the joint forces on May 27, 2007.
A case was filed against him on June 3, 2007, alleging that an unlicensed revolver was recovered from his residence in Dhaka鈥檚 Gulshan during the raid.
On October 30, 2007, a Dhaka court sentenced him to 17 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Babar, who spent 18 years behind bars, was released from Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on January 16, 2024.
He faced 14 cases during his imprisonment.
The BNP leader received three death sentences 鈥攖wo in connection with the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on Awami League鈥檚 rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka and one for the 2004 Chattogram arms haul case.
He was, however, acquitted of all cases on appeal after the interim government assumed power on August 8, 2024, three days after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime amid a student-led mass uprising.
