Staff Reporter:
The High Court on Sunday granted bail to Bidisha Siddiqi, former wife of late Jatiya Party Chairman and former President HM Ershad, in a fraud case, in which she was sentenced to two years’ impris-onment.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Khairul Alam and Justice Md Rafizul Islam passed the order following a bail petition.
Bidisha was arrested on August 25 in connection with the case. On August 26, a sent her to jail.
Advocates Fazlur Rahman Khan and Masud Mia appeared for Bidisha during the hearing.
Later, Masud Mia said there is no legal bar to Bidisha’s release as there are no other cases pending against her.
On May 20 last, a Dhaka court sentenced Bidisha to two years’ imprisonment in the fraud case in-volving a flat.
The court also fined her Tk 10,000, with an additional one month’s imprisonment in default of payment, and issued a warrant for her arrest.
The case was filed at Gulshan Police Station on February 2, 2008 by businessman AKM Mosharraf Hossain Sikdar of Dhaka’s Pallabi area.
According to the case statement, Mosharraf paid Bidisha Tk 75 lakh on July 10, 2001 for a flat in Baridhara that was supposed to be handed over by July 10, 2002.
However, despite the passage of several years, the flat was not handed over, the complaint said.
Later, Bidisha allegedly issued a cheque for Tk 72 lakh on February 9, 2005, which was dishonoured due to insufficient funds.
The complainant also alleged that instead of returning the money or handing over the flat, Bidisha delayed the matter on various pretexts and later threatened to kill him.
