2024-03-22 04:02:16
Mohammad Arifur Rahman alias Dolan, editor of the online news portal Dhaka Times, got bail in the Tk 2,000 crore money laundering case.
On Wednesday (March 20), Chaitanya Chandra Halder, Ashraf Ul Alam and Tuhin Howlader held a bail hearing for Dolan in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Assamach Jaglul Hossain. Bail was opposed by the state. After hearing both sides, the court ordered his bail.
Tapas Kumar Pal, Additional Public Prosecutor of the concerned court confirmed this information.
Arifur Rahman alias Dolan got bail from the High Court. He surrendered to the judicial court on March 5 and applied for bail. The court rejected the bail application and ordered him to be sent to jail.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has filed a charge sheet against 47 people, including the discharged general secretary of Awami League, Sajjad Hossain Barkat and his brother Imtiaz Hasan Rubel, on charges of smuggling Tk 2,000 crore. The charge sheet was filed on June 22, 2022 in the court of Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-9. Later, the court ordered the case to be sent to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge.
Earlier on March 3, 2021, the investigating officer of the case, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ASP) Uttam Kumar Saha of CID filed a charge sheet accusing 10 people. The date of hearing on charge framing in the case was fixed on September 1 last year. But, seeing some inconsistencies in the case that day, the court on its own motion directed the CID to re-investigate.
Following that instruction, CID issued charge sheet against 46 people and made 36 more accused. Apart from Rubel-Barkat, the notable accused are – Khandaker Mohtesham Hossain Babar, brother of former local government minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, his APS Satyajit Mukherjee, Faridpur city Awami League president Nazmul Islam Khandaker Levi, former city Jubo League general secretary Asibur Rahman Farhan, Khondkar Mohtesham Hossain Babar, AHM Fuad, Fahad bin Wazed alias Fahim, Kamrul Hasan David, Muhammad Ali Minar and Tariqul Islam alias Nasim.
The new accused in the supplementary charge sheet are Nishan Mahmud alias Shamim, Md. Billal Hossain, Md. Siddiqur Rahman aka Siddique, Md. Saiful Islam Jiban, Advocate Animesh Roy, Shamsul Alam Chowdhury, Deepak Kumar Majumder, Sheikh Mahtab Ali, Satyajit Mukherjee, Md. Shahidul Islam aka Majnu, Fakir Md. Belayet Hossain, Golam Md. Nashim, Md. Jamal Ahmed alias Jamal, Belayet Hossain Molla, Md. Afzal Hossain Khan alias Shiplu, Amitabh Bose, Chowdhury. Hasan, Md. Zafar Iqbal alias Haroon Mondal, Barkat’s wife Afroza Akhtar Parveen, Rubel’s wife Soheli Imrooz Punum, Saheb Sarwar, Amjad Hossain Babu, Swapan Kumar Pal, Advocate Zahid Bepari, Khalifa Jamal, Hafizul Hossain Tapan, Riaz Ahmed Shanto, Anwar Hossain Abu Fakir, Md. . Moniruzzaman Mamun, Mahfuzur Rahman, Sumon Saha, Md. Abdul Jalil Sheikh, Md. Rafiq Mandal, Khandkar Shaheen Ahmed alias Pan Shaheen, Afzal Hossain Khan and journalist Mohammad Arifur Rahman alias Dolan.
It is to be noted that on June 26, 2020, CID inspector SM Miraj Al Mahmud filed a case against Barkat and Rubel at the capital’s Kafrul police station on charges of smuggling 2 thousand crore taka.