A court has denied bail and ordered Bidisha Siddique, former wife of late president Hussain Muhammad Ershad, sent to jail in a fraud case filed at Gulshan police station in the capital.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaed’s court issued the order Wednesday afternoon, August 26, after a hearing.
State lawyer Syed Golam Murtuza Ibne Islam confirmed the information.
Atiqur Rahman sought bail on behalf of defendant Bidisha. Assistant Public Prosecutor Syed Golam Murtuza Ibne Islam opposed bail on behalf of the state and requested she be sent to jail. After the hearing, the court ordered the defendant sent to jail.
Bidisha was arrested earlier, around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 25, at Arabica restaurant in Gulshan.
A fraud case was filed at Gulshan police station in February 2008. After the trial concluded, Bidisha Siddique was sentenced to two years in prison. An arrest warrant had been outstanding against her in the case.
In a separate case involving fraud over the sale of a flat, a court sentenced Bidisha Siddique to two years’ rigorous imprisonment on May 20. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jamshed Alam delivered that verdict. Alongside the prison term, Bidisha was fined 10,000 taka, with a further one month in prison in default of payment.
The case was filed at Gulshan police station in 2008 by a businessman, Mosharraf Hossain Sikder, alleging fraud over the sale of a flat at President Park in Baridhara.
According to the case’s allegations, Mosharraf Hossain needed to buy a flat in Baridhara. After learning through contacts, Bidisha, the second wife of former president H.M. Ershad, showed Mosharraf a flat at President Park on July 1, 2001, and offered to sell it to him. The two subsequently agreed on a sale price of 8 million taka. On July 10, Bidisha called Mosharraf Hossain to her office at Rajanigandha in Banani and asked him to issue a pay order for 7.5 million taka in the name of her nominee and friend, Abdur Razzak. The plaintiff paid that amount through the Karwan Bazar branch of Standard Chartered Bank. A sale agreement was subsequently executed between the two parties.
Bidisha was the second wife of former president Hussain Muhammad Ershad. She and Ershad later divorced. They have one son together.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report