False Covid-19 reports: Sabrina gets bail, no bar to release
JKG Healthcare's Chairperson Sabrina Arif Chowdhury who was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in a case filed over delivering false report of Covid-19 has been granted bail by the High Court.
The HC bench of Justice SM Quddus Zaman and Justice Shahed Nooruddin passed the order after a hearing today, granting her bail for 6 months, said Deputy Attorney General Sujit Chatterjee Bappi.
He said Sabrina appealed against the verdict of the trial and sought bail.
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However, the hearing on the appeal against the verdict has not yet started.
Lawyer Masudul Haque who stood for Sabrina in the court said she is on bail in the remaining cases.
There is no bar to her release, he added.
According to the confessional statement of JKG's former staff member, Humayun Kabir, JKG Healthcare staffers would collect samples for Covid-19 tests, but throw them away without testing.
JKG Healthcare collected samples for Covid-19 tests in different parts of the country including Dhaka. It issued false Covid-19 positive reports to around 27,000 people without testing any of those samples.
On 23 June 2020, JKG Healthcare was raided and sealed, and a case was filed with Tejgaon police station against six people, including JKG CEO Ariful Chowdhury, for providing fake Covid-19 test reports.
Police arrested Ariful and five other employees of the organisation on the same day. Dr Sabrina was arrested on 12 July 2020 after police were informed of her alleged involvement.
On 20 August 2020, the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sharifuzzaman Ansari framed charges against the accused.
Among the accused, Himu, Tanzila, and Romeo pleaded guilty and testified in court.
