A court has granted bail to Mohammad Rakib Hossain, 24, an accused in a case over the death of a headteacher who fell from a moving rickshaw after a snatcher violently pulled at her bag in front of the National Parliament House in the capital.

Dhaka’s Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Ayesha Akter Mousumi granted him bail on a Tk 5,000 bond on Sunday afternoon after a hearing. The bail will remain in effect until the police report is submitted, said defence lawyer Mohammad Mehedi Hasan Majumder.

The lawyer said Rakib could be released from custody soon as no other cases were pending against him. The bail petition claimed that Rakib was innocent and had been implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy. It also stated that the motorcycle recovered in connection with the snatching did not belong to him and that no stolen goods had been recovered from his possession.

According to the case statement, the deceased, Ronjila Parvin, 56, was the headteacher of Bagbari Government Primary School in Gabtali upazila of Bogura district. On August 29, she was travelling with her husband, Mohammad Abdul Matin, to consult an eye specialist when the incident occurred at around 5:55am near Gate No. 12 of the National Parliament House on Manik Mia Avenue.

While they were travelling in an auto-rickshaw, snatchers riding a motorcycle grabbed her bag and pulled it forcefully. She fell onto the paved road from the moving vehicle and sustained serious head injuries.

She was first taken to Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital and later transferred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

Her husband, Abdul Matin, filed a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station over the incident.

Following the case, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-2) arrested the accused during raids at various locations in the capital on August 30. At the time, the authorities seized a snatched smartphone, cash and a Yamaha R15 motorcycle allegedly used in the crime.