Dhaka, June 3 (Reuters): A Bangladesh court today sent three political leaders, including former ministers, to jail and held another in custody for further interrogation on charges of corruption and misuse of power, court officials said.

They were among a dozen people arrested in a revamped anti-corruption sweep last week by the army-backed interim government, which has pledged to hold a free and fair election by the end of 2008.

The court order was issued after they had undergone four days of interrogation by police and other security officials.

Abdul Jalil, general secretary of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, former health minister and Hasina’s cousin Sheikh (Fazlul Karim) Selim, and businessman and top financier to Begum Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party M.A. Hashem were sent to jail on a 30-day detention order, a court registrar said.

Former junior home minister in Khaleda’s government, Lutfuzzaman Babar, was handed over to police for another four days of questioning for alleged illegal possession of weapons recovered from his home during a search last week, officials said.

Jalil, also, was a minister in Hasina’s government.