BNP Vice-Chairman and former home minister Air Vice Marshal (retd) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has been released on bail, over three and half months after he was arrested in cases related to political violence.

He came out of the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) around 8:50pm on Sunday, BNP chairperson's media wing official Shamsuddin Didar said.

The party leaders and activists welcomed him with flowers.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Altaf Hossain in the Tongi area of Gazipur on 5 November last year during the BNP’s one-point movement to oust the government.

His lawyer Taherul Islam said the BNP leader was shown arrested in four cases filed over political violence centring the party’s rally in Dhaka on 28 October last year. Besides, he was also sentenced to jail in another sabotage case lodged earlier.

Later on, he obtained bail in all the cases.

As Altaf fell sick during his incarceration at the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, the prison authorities sent him to BSMMU for treatment.