Samrat arrested or not?

There has been speculation about the arrest of Dhaka South Jubo League President Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat, the alleged kingpins of “casino” business in the capital.

Multiple sources including those from the law enforcement agencies today said the Samrat has already been detained following the ongoing crackdown against the casino and illegal business in Dhaka.

But no one of them would like to talk on record about the arrest of Samrat, whose name came in the spotlight during the ongoing clampdown for his alleged link with running casinos at different sporting clubs in Dhaka.

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Where is Samrat?

Amid such situation, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal today asked media to wait, evading to tell anything specific about the possible arrest of Samrat.

“You will see…very soon”, the minister said responding to a query of journalists on whether Samrat was arrested or not.

“Many things are being said about him [Samrat]. Our message is that all offenders will be brought under the law, irrespective of Samrat or whoever,” Kamal said without going into the specifics about Samrat’s arrest.

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Samrat digs in at office fearing arrest

He was talking to reporters after a programme at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

The government on September 24 imposed a travel ban on Samrat, meaning he cannot leave the country.

Bangladesh Bank also sought details of Samrat’s bank accounts.

Samrat had reportedly been holed up in his Kakrail office at Bhuiya Mansion since September 18, the day Rapid Action Battalion arrested Jubo League Dhaka South Organising Secretary Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan for running casino business at Young Men’s Club in the city on September 18.

Jubo League sources said Samrat was desperately trying to leave the country to get rid of the government’s ongoing wrath against illegal casino business and to avert arrest.    

But rumours run rife on the whereabouts of Samrat since September 23. Then the speculations also surfaced among the ruling Awami League and its youth front Jubo League that Samrat might be caught in the hands of law enforcement agencies.

The Daily Star, however, couldn’t verify independently about the much talked issue.