Bidisha gets HC bail in fraud case; no bar to release

The High Court on Sunday granted bail to Bidisha Siddiqi, wife of late President and Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, in a fraud case, in which she was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Khairul Alam and Justice Md Rafizul Islam passed the order following a bail petition.

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, a Dhaka court sentenced Bidisha to two years’ imprisonment in the fraud case involving a flat.

The court also fined her 10,000 taka with an additional one month’s imprisonment in default of payment.

As Bidisha was absent from the court when the verdict was delivered, the court issued a warrant for her arrest.

Bidisha was arrested from a restaurant in Gulshan around 8:30pm on August 25. She was sent to jail on August 26.

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 75 lakh taka on July 10, 2001 for a flat in Baridhara that was supposed to be handed over by July 10, 2002.

However, the flat was not handed over, the complaint said.

Later, Bidisha allegedly issued a cheque for 72 lakh taka 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.