A Dhaka court today (2 September) rejected the bail petition of Bidisha Ershad, the second wife of late former president and Jatiyo Party founder Hussain Muhammad Ershad, in a fraud case filed at Gulshan police station in which she has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Shahjahan Kabir passed the order after a hearing, confirmed Bidisha’s lawyer Md Atikur Rahman.
Earlier, police arrested Bidisha in Gulshan on 25 August on an arrest warrant.
On 20 May this year, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam sentenced Bidisha to two years in prison and fined her Tk10,000 in the fraud case.
She was also sentenced to an additional month in prison in default of paying the fine.
Businessman AKM Mosharraf Hossain filed the case against Bidisha on 7 February 2008, accusing her of fraud.
According to the case documents, Mosharraf, an importer and trader of sanitary products in Mirpur-10, contacted Bidisha in 2001 to purchase a flat in Baridhara.
They later agreed to purchase a flat at President Park in Baridhara for Tk80 lakh.
On 10 July 2001, Bidisha allegedly asked Mosharraf to issue a Tk75 lakh pay order in the name of her nominated person and friend, Abdul Razzaq, at her Rajanigandha office in Banani.
Mosharraf paid the amount through Standard Chartered Bank’s Kawran Bazar branch, following which an agreement for the sale of the flat was executed.
Under the agreement, the flat was to be registered after obtaining approval from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and paying the remaining amount.
Bidisha also allegedly promised to hand over the flat by 10 July 2002.
However, the flat was not handed over within the agreed timeframe. When Mosharraf pressed her to hand over the property, Bidisha allegedly assured him that she would return the money.
On 9 February 2005, she issued him a Tk72 lakh cheque, according to the case documents. The cheque was later dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the account.
The complainant alleged that Bidisha subsequently delayed the matter on various pretexts and neither returned the money nor handed over the flat.
He also alleged that he was threatened with death by hired criminals when he demanded the money or the flat.
According to the case, Bidisha told Mosharraf that he would have to wait until she recovered money from former president Ershad.
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