The Supreme Court’s Appellate Division chamber court has stayed the bail of Ehteshamul Haque, also known as Bhola, one of the accused in the murder case of former police superintendent Babul Akhter’s wife, Mahmuda Khanam Mitu. The order was issued on Monday. Bhola had been arrested on January 21 from in front of Media Tower in the Kalpolok residential area of Chattogram by Bakalia police.

Ehteshamul Haque, identified as a listed criminal, faces multiple cases including murder, arms, and extortion charges. He was also shown arrested in the case of nursing college teacher Anjali Rani Devi, who was hacked to death in 2015 in Chattogram’s Panchlaish area. Mahmuda Khanam Mitu was murdered on June 5, 2016, near GEC intersection while taking her son to school. Following the incident, Babul Akhter filed a case against three unidentified persons.

The investigation was later transferred from the Chattogram Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch to the Police Bureau of Investigation. In 2021, Mitu’s father filed another case naming Babul Akhter as the prime accused. Allegations of political influence and controversy surrounded the investigation process during the previous Awami League government.