Court sends Bidisha Siddique to jail in fraud case after arrest in Dhaka
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A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered Bidisha Siddique, the former wife of late President and Jatiya Party founder Hussain Muhammad Ershad, to be sent to jail following her arrest in a fraud case. Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaid issued the order after a hearing, as an arrest warrant had been pending against her due to a two-year prison sentence.
Bidisha was apprehended by police on Tuesday evening at a restaurant in the Gulshan area of the capital. Following her appearance in court on Wednesday, her legal counsel, Atiqur Rahman, sought bail, arguing that the defendant was unaware of the case. He further noted that the defendant has a special-needs child who requires her constant care and asserted that an appeal against the conviction would be filed in a higher court.
The state prosecutor and the plaintiff’s lawyer, Hemayet Uddin Khan Hiron, opposed the bail plea. Khan Hiron accused the defendant of employing deceptive tactics to evade her obligations. After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail application and ordered her detention.
The conviction stems from a case filed on February 7, 2008, by businessman Mosharrof Hossain. According to court records, the dispute began in 2001 when the plaintiff entered into an agreement to purchase a flat in the President Park area of Baridhara for 80 million BDT. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff paid 75 million BDT via pay order to an individual designated by Bidisha.
Although a contract was executed with an agreement to register the property following regulatory approval, the flat was never handed over. The plaintiff alleged that when he demanded the return of his funds, Bidisha issued a cheque for 7.2 million BDT in 2005, which was subsequently dishonoured by the bank due to insufficient funds. The plaintiff further claimed that Bidisha repeatedly delayed the process and threatened him with violence when he pressed for the return of his money or the transfer of the property.
On May 20, Metropolitan Magistrate Jamshed Alam sentenced Bidisha to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 BDT, or an additional month of jail time in default. As she was absent during the delivery of that verdict, the court had issued a warrant for her arrest.
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