Arifur Rahman sent to jail in 25b taka money laundering case
Rejecting the appeal for bail, the Dhaka court has sent Faridpur’s Arifur Rahman alias Dolon to jail on charges of laundering Tk 25 billion (Tk 2,500 crore). The order was passed today, Tuesday, after a hearing at the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions judge As-Shams Jaglul Hossain.
Additional public prosecutor Tapash Kumar Pal confirmed the matter to Prothom Alo, saying that Arifur Rahman had recently appealed to the High Court for bail. The court refused him bail and instructed him to surrender at the lower court within six days. He did not surrender within the stipulated time. Today the hearing was scheduled for the supplementary charge sheet to be submitted in court. Arifur turned up in court and sought bail. At the end of the hearing, the court rejected the bail petition and ordered that he be sent to jail. The next date of hearing of the supplementary charge sheet was fixed for 22 April.
On June 26, 2020, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police lodged a complaint at the Kafrul police station in the capital city against the loyal supporters of former minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Faridpur town Awami League’s dismissed general secretary Sajjad Hossain alias Barkat and his brother, Faridpur Press Club’s expelled president Imtiaz Hasan alias Rubel, on charges of laundering Tk 25 billion (Tk 2,500 crore). On 3 March 2021 the investigating officer and CID assistant police commissioner Uttam Kumar Saha submitted the charge sheet in court against 10 persons including Sajjad and Imtiaz.
On 7 June the police raided the house of Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in Faridpur and arrested 10 persons including Sajjad and Imtiaz. A day later the former local government minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain left Faridpur and went to Dhaka.
Spotting certain discrepancies in the charge sheet during the hearing in 2022, the court ordered CID to reinvestigate the case. Then on 22 June last year CID submitted a supplementary charge sheet to the Dhaka Special Judge Court-9, accusing 36 more persons including Arifur Rahman.
Other than Sajjad and Imtiaz, the accused mentioned in the first charge sheet were former minister Khandaker Mosharraf’s brother Khandaker Mohtasham Hossain alias Babar, his personal assistant AHM Fuad, Faridpur town Awami League president Nazmul Islam Khandaker Levy, former general secretary of the town Jubo League Asibur Rahman, district Swechchhashebok League general secretary Fahad Bin Wazed, town Jubo League former joint convener Kamrul Hasan, district Jubo League’s convener Muhammad Ali Minar and town Jubo League’s joint convener Tariqul Islam.
The newly accused in the supplementary charge sheet are Sajjad’s wife Afroza Akhter, Imtiaz’s wife Soheli Imrose, Nishan Mahmud, Billal Hossain, Siddiqur Rahman, Saiful Islam, Animesh Roy, Shamsul Alam Chowdhury, Deepak Kumar Majumdar, Sheikh Mahtab Ali, Satyajit Mukherjee, Shahidul Islam, Fakir Md Belayet Hossain, Golam Md Nasim, Kamal Ahmed, Belayet Hossain Molla, Afzal Hossain Khan, Amitabh Bose, Chowdhury Md Hasan, Zafar Iqbal, Shaheb Sarwar, Amjad Hossain, Swapan Kumar Pal, Zahid Bepari, Khalifa Kamal, Hafizul Hossain, Riaz Ahmed, Anwar Hossain, Md Moniruzzaman, Mahfuzur Rahman, Sumon Saha, Abdul Jalil Sheikh, Rafiq Mandal, Khandaker Shaheen Ahmed, Afzal Hossain Khan and Mohammad Arifur Rahman.
On the night of 26 May 2020, the home of the Faridpur district Awami League president at the time, Subal Chandra Saha, was attacked twice. He filed a case against unidentified persons with the police station. Later on 7 June the police raided the house of Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in Faridpur and arrested 10 persons including Sajjad and Imtiaz. A day later the former local government minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain left Faridpur and went to Dhaka.