Gulshan fraud case: Bidisha Siddiq denied bail, sent to jail

Bidisha Siddiq, former wife of late president Hussain Muhammad Ershad, was sent to jail on Wednesday after a Dhaka court denied her bail in a fraud case filed with Gulshan Police Station.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Aminul Islam Junaid rejected her bail petition filed on condition that she would appeal against her sentence and ordered her to be sent to jail.

Prosecutor Moktar Hossain confirmed the development, saying the court rejected the bail petition after a hearing in the afternoon.

Police arrested Bidisha from Arabica restaurant in Gulshan-2 around 8:30pm on Tuesday following an arrest warrant issued after her conviction.

On May 20, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jamsed Alam sentenced her to two years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined her 10,000 taka. She was also ordered to serve an additional month in simple imprisonment if she failed to pay the fine.

According to the case documents, businessman Mosharraf Hossain paid 75 lakh in 2001 after agreeing to buy a flat at President Park in Baridhara from Bidisha for 80 lakh taka. Although the agreement required her to hand over the flat by July 10, 2002, she did not do so.

Bidisha later issued a 72 lakh taka cheque to refund the money, but it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds. Mosharraf subsequently filed a fraud case with Gulshan Police Station in 2008, alleging that Bidisha had neither returned his money nor handed over the flat and had threatened him when he sought a refund.

Bidisha had been absconding since her conviction until her arrest on Tuesday.