HC acquits Regent Chairman Shahed in arms case

Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday acquitted Regent Group Chairman Mohammad Shahed alias Shahed Karim in an arms case, in which he got life term imprisonment by the trial court.

The High Court bench of Justice Ashish Ranjan Das and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan delivered the verdict after hearing his appeal petition filed against trial court verdict.

Lawyers S M Shahjahan and Shah Monjurul Hoque appeared in the court hearing on behalf of Shahed Karim, while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state.

Lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque said that the HC acquitted his client as the state could not prove the allegation brought against him of possessing illegal arms and bullets. However, Shahed cannot be released from jail following the HC judgement as he is arrested in other cases, he added.

A Special Tribunal in Dhaka on September 28 in 2020 sentenced Regent Group Chairman Shahed Karim to life term imprisonment in the arms case. He was also given seven years’ imprisonment for possessing bullets under another section of Firearms Act, but the punishment will be run simultaneously, said the court.

RAB officials arrested Shahed from the border area of Debhata upazila in Satkhira on July 15 in 2020 when he was trying to leave the country on a boat.

Then he was put on remand in a case filed over issuing fake Covid-19 test results and charging patients unfairly for testing and treatment.

On July 18 in 2020, a team of DB police found Shahed’s private car in front of a house in Sector-11 in the city’s Uttara area.

They then seized a pistol with a round of bullet from the car and later a case under the Arms Act was filed against him with the Uttara West Police Station.

DB Inspector Md Sairul Islam on July 30 that year submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka in the case. The Special Tribunal-1 of Dhaka framed charges against Shahed on August 27 in 2020 in the case.