Appellate Division upholds order canceling Samrat's bail

Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat
File photo

The Appellate Division has upheld the High Court's order cancelling the bail of Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat, the expelled leader of the Dhaka Metropolitan South unit Jubo League in the case of acquisition of wealth beyond known sources.

The Appellate Division has dismissed the leave to appeal Samrat filed against the High Court order. The three-member Appellate Division bench headed by justice Nuruzzaman passed the order on Wednesday.

Samrat was granted bail on 11 May in the case ACC filed on the charge of amassing wealth beyond the known sources of income. Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 judge Al Asad Md Asifuzzaman granted the bail. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) appealed to the High Court seeking cancellation of Samrat's bail.

The High Court cancelled Samrat's bail after hearing the ACC's appeal on 18 May. At the same time the court ordered Samrat to surrender to the judicial court within seven days.

Against this order of the High Court, Samrat appealed to the Appellate Division, which came up for hearing through chamber court in the regular bench of the Appellate Division. Lawyers Rokon Uddin Mahmud and Munsurul Haque Chowdhury were defending Samrat while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC in the court.

Later, Khurshid Alam Khan told Prothom Alo that the Appellate Division upheld the High Court's order cancelling Samrat’s bail. The court rejected his leave to appeal. Therefore, Samrat has to stay in jail in this case.

On 6 October, 2019, RAB arrested Samrat and his associate, then Jubo League leader Enamul Haque alias Arman from Cumilla. RAB said Samrat and Arman were drunk at the time of arrest. A mobile court sentenced them to six months imprisonment as the two were possessing foreign liquor.

Samrat and Arman were brought to Dhaka after the arrest. After that RAB raided his office in Kakrail. His office was reported to have pelts of wild animals, drugs and weapons. The mobile court sentenced Samrat to six months in prison for possessing the pelts.

Bhuiyan trade center in Kakrail, which was occupied by Samrat for nine years, was handed over to the two owners by the magistrate.

Later, a case was filed against Samrat at Ramna police station under Arms and Narcotics Control Act. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police registered a case against Samrat under the Money Laundering Act.

And the ACC filed a case against Samrat on the charge of acquiring illegal wealth. On 12 November, 2019, the ACC filed a case against Samrat on charges of illegal acquisition of wealth, accusing him of amassing of Tk 29.4 million beyond known sources of income.

After investigating the case, the ACC submitted the charge sheet against Samrat in the court on 26 November, 2020. In the charge sheet, Samrat was accused of acquiring nearly Tk 2.23 billion beyond the known sources of income.