Dhaka: Security has been beefed up in and around the Old Dhaka Central Jail as the trial of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case is scheduled to be held in a makeshift court inside the jail.

‘Additional police have been deployed in the area since morning over the trial along with an increased number of regular jail guards,’ said Kamal Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of Chawkbazar zone, reports the UNB.

Earlier, the government decided to hold the trial of Khaleda Zia in the case at the Old Dhaka Central Jail after setting up a makeshift court there.

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry on Tuesday issued a gazette notification in this regard.

The notice says that the place of Special Judge Court-5 where the trial proceedings of Zia Charitable Trust case were in progress has now been shifted to the administrative building of the Central Jail in Old Dhaka for security reason.

The BNP chairperson is now at Nazimuddin Road central jail, serving five years’ rigorous imprisonment as she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8.

The hearing on the Zia Charitable Trust graft case was last held on February 1.

On August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abuse of power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.