Former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque was arrested by a Detective Branch team of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police at his Dhanmondi house in Dhaka Thursday morning.
He was sent to the Dhaka Central Jail in the evening under heavy security in a pending case filed for a murder committed during the July uprising in 2024.
In a helmet and a bullet-proof jacket, Justice Khairul Haque was produced before Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Sanaullah by Jatrabari police inspector Khaled Hasan over the killing of a youth during the July 2024 mass uprising.
According to the police, Justice Khairul, 80, is the 44th accused in a murder case filed on July 6, 2025 with the Jatrabari police station. The case involves the death of Abdul Quiyyum, who was shot dead during the July 18, 2024 protests in Kajla area. The victim鈥檚 father, Md Alauddin, filed the case.
The case investigation officer requested the magistrate to keep Khairul in jail during the pre-trial stage, citing his influence and the risk from him to obstruct the investigation or incite unrest among students, the public, and political parties, if released on bail.
DB officials said that Khairul was also named in three other cases on criminal charges, including sedition, fraud, and judicial misconduct 鈥� particularly related to altering the verdict that declared the caretaker government system illegal in 2011.
DMP additional commissioner for crime and operations SN Md Nazrul Islam confirmed that Khairul was named in four cases, including one over murder and three others involving verdict manipulation and sedition.
The court sent Khairul to the jail in the case filed for murder during the July uprising.
One of the cases alleged that on May 10, 2011, while serving as the chief Justice, Khairul led an Appellate Division bench that, in an open court, stated that elections for the 10th and 11th parliaments could still be held under a caretaker government. However, in the final written verdict released on September 16, 2012 鈥� after his retirement 鈥� he allegedly changed the decision to declare that only elected lawmakers could form such a government.
Khairul is also the first former chief justice to have been arrested on criminal charges of verdict fraud and murder.
The arrest comes at a time when the country has been in mourning for the deaths of over 34 people 鈥� mostly schoolchildren 鈥� and injuries to 165 others in a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crash at Milestone School and College at Uttara in the capital earlier this week.
DMP DB joint commissioner for South and Administration Mohammad Nasirul Islam said that Khairul was arrested in three cases 鈥� one in Jatrabari and two in Fatullah, Narayanganj.
In a statement on Thursday, Supreme Court Bar Association president AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon alleged that Khairul received Tk 39 lakh from then prime minister Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 fund for medical treatment abroad shortly after the verdict, calling it a 鈥榬eward鈥�. He also criticised Khairul鈥檚 repeated reappointments as chairman of the Law Commission, labelling them unethical.
One of the fraud-related cases against Khairul was filed on August 18, 2024, by pro-Jamaat Supreme Court lawyer Md Muzahidul Islam with the Shahbagh police station.
Narayanganj Bar Association鈥檚 former president Md Abdul Bari Bhuiyan filed the sedition case with the Fatuallah police station against Khairul Haque on August 25, 2024 over fraudulence in the caretaker verdict.聽聽聽聽
The case by Muzahidul聽 accused Khairul of corruptly and maliciously changing the caretaker government verdict after retirement 鈥� violating Section 219 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum seven-year jail sentence.
The complaint said that Khairul鈥檚 actions led to the violation of citizens鈥� voting rights and enabled Sheikh Hasina to remain in power illegally for three consecutive terms.
Khairul was appointed as chief Justice on September 27, 2010 and he took office on September 30 that year, superseding two Appellate Division judges.
He retired on May 17, 2011, and was appointed as Law Commission chair on July 23, 2013 violating his own verdict that retired judges would be disqualified for holding offices of profit after their retirement.
He remained in that post until resigning on August 13, 2024, after multiple reappointments.
