Over two years after his arrest, suspended Mayor of Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) Ariful Haque Chowdhury was released from jail on bail on Wednesday.

Ariful walked out of the Sylhet Central Jail at about 5:15pm after the bail orders in four cases, including two murder cases, reached the jail, said jail sources.

BNP leaders and activists, some SCC councillors and the family members received Ariful at the jail gate, reports UNB.

On December 30, 2014, a court here sent Ariful to jail when he surrendered before the court in the former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria murder case, seeking bail.

On March 22, 2016, he was granted bail for 15 days because his mother was ill and Ariful filed a bail petition after surrendering before a lower court as ordered by the High Court.

Five people, including Kibria, were killed and 70 others injured in a grenade attack on a public rally of local Awami League at Baidder Bazar in Sadar upazila of Habiganj district on January 27, 2005.

After the incident, Awami League leader Abdul Mozid Khan filed two case — one for murder and another under the Explosives Substances Act — with Habiganj Police Station the following day.