A Dhaka court Thursday sentenced former state minister Amanullah Aman to seven years in jail on charges of extorting money from a Keraniganj businessman, reports bdnews24.com

The sixth additional district and sessions judge for Dhaka, Altaf Hossain, also fined Amanullah Tk 1 lakh.

If he fails to pay the fine, he will have to serve another six months behind bars, according to the sentencing.

Khawja Supermarket owner Rafiul Alam from South Keraniganj Aganagar area filed the case with the South Keraniganj Police Station on March 6 last year.

The complainant alleged that the accused, instructed by Amanullah, broke the boundary wall of his market on June 26, 2004 and later demanded Tk 25 lakh in extortion.

The accused threatened to shut the market if the demanded money was not paid, according to case details.

The market owner paid Tk 15 lakh to Amanullah, according to the case.

Another accused in the case, Abdul Latif Bepari, was jailed for five years and fined Tk 10,000 for assisting Amanullah in extortion.

Latif will have to serve a further three months behind bars in failure to pay the fine.

Each of the 10 other accused has been sentenced to six months in jail and fined Tk 500 for being present during the extortion.

In failure to pay the fine, each of the accused will have to suffer 15 more days in prison.

The 10 who got six months in prison include Mozibur Rahman Dipu, SM Firoz, Abul Kalam, Abdul Hamid Lal, Md Hossain, Zillur Rahman and Md Raza.

Amanullah, Latif, Mozibur, Firoz, Kalam and Hamid were present in court during the delivery of the verdict.

Amanullah’s lawyer Sanaullah Miah expressed surprise at the verdict and told bdndews24.com that the judgement put a question mark on the independence of the judiciary.

In depositions, no witnesses mentioned that Amanullah had taken illicit tolls from the businessman, the lawyer claimed.

The lawyer said they would challenge the verdict in the High Court.