Bidisha Ershad held in fraud case

Police have arrested Bidisha Ershad, the second wife of late former president and Jatiya Party founder Hussain Muhammad Ershad, in connection with a fraud case.

She was arrested from the Gulshan area of Dhaka at around 8:30pm on Tuesday, police said. Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Daud Hossain confirmed the arrest.

According to the police, a Dhaka court had sentenced Bidisha to two years in prison and fined her Tk 10,000 in the fraud case.

The court subsequently issued an arrest warrant against her, based on which she was taken into custody.

Earlier, a Dhaka court had earlier sentenced Bidisha to two years’ imprisonment in the case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam delivered the verdict in her absence, according to lawyer Hemayet Uddin Khan Heron, who represented the complainant.

The court also imposed a fine of Tk 10,000. In default of payment, Bidisha was ordered to serve an additional month in prison.

Six prosecution witnesses testified during the trial before the court delivered its verdict.

Alleged Tk 75 lakh property transaction

The case was filed with Gulshan Police Station on February 2, 2008, by businessman AKM Mosharrof Hossain Sikdar of Dhaka’s Pallabi area.

According to the case statement, Mosharrof paid Bidisha Tk 75 lakh on July 10, 2001, for the purchase of a flat in the Baridhara area. The flat was reportedly scheduled to be handed over by July 10, 2002.

However, the complainant alleged that the flat was not handed over despite several years having passed.

The case subsequently proceeded through the courts, eventually resulting in the two-year prison sentence and fine imposed on Bidisha.

Her arrest on Tuesday night follows the court-issued warrant and marks the latest development in the long-running fraud case involving the former president’s former wife.