Bail petition rejected, Bidisha Ershad sent to jail

Bidisha Ershad, former wife of late former President Hussain Muhammad Ershad, has been sent to jail after being sentenced to two years in prison in a fraud case filed with Gulshan Police Station in the capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junayed rejected her bail petition and ordered her to be sent to jail on Wednesday, August 26.

Gulshan Police produced Bidisha before the court around 11am and applied to keep her in custody. She was kept in the lockup of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court.

Bidisha's lawyer Atikur Rahman sought bail on special consideration with leave to appeal. He said, "There was a stay order from the High Court in this case. Later, it became vacant. The trial was held in her absence and the verdict was delivered. We are seeking bail on condition of appeal."

Counsel for the plaintiff, Advocate Hemayet Uddin Khan (Hiron), opposed the bail. He said, "For 25 years, she has disrespected the court in this case. She did not appear in court despite being aware. I oppose her bail and pray for her detention in jail."

State counsel Syed Golam Mortuza Ibne Islam also opposed the bail. After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail application and ordered her to be sent to jail. However, Bidisha was not produced in the dock during the hearing.

Earlier, on May 20, Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam had sentenced her to two years of imprisonment in this case. Along with the sentence, she was fined Tk 10,000. The judge mentioned in the verdict that she would have to suffer an additional one month of simple imprisonment if the fine was not paid.

Based on the conviction warrant, she was arrested from Arabica Restaurant in Gulshan-2 on Tuesday, August 25, around 8:30pm.

According to the case filed in February 2008, the plaintiff Mosharraf Hossain is an importer and trader of sanitary products in the Mirpur-10 area. He contacted Bidisha in 2001 to purchase a flat in Baridhara. Later, a deal was struck between them for Tk 80 lakh for a flat at President Park in the Baridhara area.

The allegations state that on July 10, 2001, Bidisha called the plaintiff to her Rajnigandha office in Banani and asked him to issue a pay order of Tk 75 lakh in the name of her nominee and friend Abdul Razzaq. The plaintiff paid the money through Standard Chartered Bank's Karwan Bazar branch. Later, a sale agreement was executed between them.

According to the contract, after paying the remaining money with the approval of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), the flat was to be registered and handed over to the plaintiff by July 10, 2002. However, even after a long time passed, the flat was not handed over, the plaintiff alleged.

The case further states that when pressure was applied to hand over the flat, Bidisha assured him of returning the money. Later, on February 9, 2005, she gave the plaintiff a cheque for Tk 72 lakh. However, when the cheque was deposited in the bank on the scheduled date, it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the account.

The plaintiff alleged that Bidisha made various excuses to stall the matter and eventually neither returned the money nor handed over the flat. He also alleged that when he demanded the money back or the flat, he was threatened with murder by hired goons.