Shahed’s Fraudulence: Cops sat on his warrants for 10yrs

Ten years have passed since a Dhaka court served two arrest warrants, including a conviction warrant, against Regent Group Chairman Md Shahed in a cheque bounce case, but police are yet to take any action in this regard, the prosecution alleges.

Additional Public Prosecutor Abdus Sattar Dulal told it The Daily Star on Sunday.

As per the provision, if the copy of an arrest warrant is sent to a police station, they are supposed to arrest the accused and produce him/her before the concerned court.

If police can't arrest or don't find them at their specific addresses, they will submit a report to the court about it.

But in this case, police did not submit any report on the execution of arrest warrant, Dulal said.

On August 18 of 2010, Judge Md Harunur Rashid of the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka sentenced Shahed to six months of simple imprisonment and fined him Tk 53 lakh in absentia in the cheque dishonour case.

In failing to pay the fine, Shahed will suffer six months more in jail, the judge said, adding that the punishment would be effective from the day of his arrest or surrender.

The judge also issued a conviction warrant against him and sent a copy of the warrant to Uttara Purba Police Station.

Earlier, the same court cancelled his bail on October 5, 2009 and issued an arrest warrant against him for remaining absent from the court without any information.

Contacted, officer-in-charge (OC) of Uttara Purba Police Station Nur-e-Alam told The Daily Star that he did not know about the arrest warrants as he was not posted at the station during that time.

According to the prosecution, Shahed, proprietor of RS Shipping and Trading located at Sector-6 in Uttara, bought electronic equipment from Md Mojibur Rahman, proprietor of Green Connection International located on Babur Road in Mohammadpur, at a cost of Tk 50 lakh in 2007.

Shahed issued two cheques totalling Tk 50 lakh against the dues on November 29, 2007.

The cheques were dishonoured on January 29, 2008 as there was not enough fund in Shahed's bank account, according to the case documents.

Mojibur informed Shahed about it Shahed, but to no avail.

Left with no choice, Mojibur served a legal notice on February 28 that year, asking Shahed to pay the due amount within 30 days from the day of receiving the notice.

On March 1 the same year, Mojibur published an advertisement in the Daily Manabzamin asking Shahed to pay the money, but he did not respond.

Later, on August 24, 2008, Mojibur filed a cheque dishonour case with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

After the hearing, the court asked Shahed to appear before it to narrate his explanation.

The court granted him bail after he surrendered before it and sought bail on June 2, 2009.

The case was then transferred to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka for its disposal.

The court framed charges against Shahed on October 26.

On July 22, 2010, the complainant gave his deposition before the court against Shahed.

Shahed was arrested on July 15 this year from Satkhira while he was trying to flee the country on a boat.

He was later placed on a 10-day remand in connection with a case filed with Uttara West Police Station over issuing fake Covid-19 results and charging patients for the reports and treatment.