Lutfozzaman Babar, former state minister for home affairs, walked free after 17 years in prison, receiving a warm reception from BNP leaders and activists at the jail gate.
“He walked out of Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj around 2 pm,” said jailer Bashiruddin.
Babar will first pay respects at the grave of BNP founder and late president Ziaur Rahman, followed by a visit to the BNP office in Paltan. He will then travel to his ancestral home in Netrakona.
The High Court on Tuesday acquitted five people, including Lutfozzaman Babar, in a case filed under the Arms Act over the sensational 10-truck arms haul.
The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Nasreen Akter passed the order after hearing.
Earlier, on December 18, last year, the High Court acquitted six death-row convicts including Lutfozzaman Babar in a case filed under the Special Powers Act.
On April 1, 2004, 10 trucks of arms were seized at the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd jetty.
Two cases – one under the Arms Act and another under the Special Powers Act – were filed with Karnaphuli Police Station the following day, naming 50 people as accused in the arms case and 52 in the other.
On January 30, 2014, Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge SM Mujibur Rahman sentenced 14 people, including Babar, to death under the Special Powers Act.
They were also handed life imprisonment and seven years’ imprisonment each under two sections of the arms case.
