Former President Ershad’s ex-wife Bidisha sent to jail

Bidisha Siddiq, former wife of late former president and Jatiya Party founder chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad, has been ordered to be sent to jail in a fraud case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaid passed the order after a hearing on Wednesday (26 August) afternoon.

State counsel Syed Golam Murtuza Ibn Islam confirmed that the order was issued against her in a fraud case filed with Gulshan Police Station in the capital.

At the hearing, lawyers for Bidisha, including Atikur Rahman, Moniruzzaman and Mahmudul Kabir, sought bail subject to appeal. The prosecution opposed the bail plea. After hearing both sides, the court rejected the bail application and ordered that the accused be sent to jail.

The bail petition stated that the arrested accused is a member of a renowned family and is completely innocent. She is not involved in the incident mentioned in the case, it said. It also said that she has a child with special needs and that there is no one other than her to take care of the child. Therefore, the petition argued that she was entitled to bail subject to appeal. It further stated that an appeal against the conviction would be filed before the higher court.

Earlier, Bidisha Siddiq was arrested from her residence in Gulshan at around 8:30pm on August 25, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner M Tanvir Ahmed confirmed.

In a 2008 fraud case, Bidisha Ershad was sentenced to two years in prison and fined Tk 10,000, with an additional one month of simple imprisonment in default of payment. On May 20 this year, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam announced the verdict. She was arrested following a warrant issued by the court.

The case was filed on February 7, 2008, by businessman AKM Mosharraf Hossain against Bidisha on charges of fraud.

According to the case statement, complainant Mosharraf Hossain is an importer and trader of sanitary products in the Mirpur-10 area. In 2001, he contacted Bidisha Hossain with the intention of purchasing a flat in Baridhara. Subsequently, an agreement was reached to sell a flat at President Park in Baridhara for Tk 80 lakh.

On July 10, 2001, Bidisha Hossain called the complainant to her office at Rajanigandha in Banani and asked him to issue a Tk 75 lakh pay order in the name of her nominated person and friend, Abdul Razzaq. The complainant paid the amount through Standard Chartered Bank’s Kawran Bazar branch. Later, a deed of agreement for sale was executed between the two parties.

According to the agreement, the flat was to be registered after obtaining approval from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and paying the remaining amount. Although Bidisha had promised to hand over the flat by July 10, 2002, she failed to do so even after a considerable period of time had passed. When pressured to hand over the flat, Bidisha Siddiq assured the complainant that she would return the money. Later, on February 9, 2005, she issued a cheque for Tk 72 lakh. However, when the cheque was deposited within the stipulated time, it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the account.

The complainant further alleged that Bidisha kept delaying the matter on various pretexts and handed over neither the money nor the flat. He also alleged that when he demanded either a refund or the flat, he was threatened with death by hired criminals. Bidisha Siddiq had told the complainant that he would have to wait until money was recovered from former president Ershad, according to the case statement.