Dhaka: The High Court on Sunday granted bail to Bidisha Siddiqi, the former wife of the late Jatiya Party Chairman and former President HM Ershad, in a fraud case where she was previously sentenced to two years' imprisonment. A bench comprising Justice Md Khairul Alam and Justice Md Rafizul Islam made the decision following a bail petition.
According to United News of Bangladesh, Bidisha was arrested on August 25 in connection with the case, and the following day, a court sent her to jail. Advocates Fazlur Rahman Khan and Masud Mia represented Bidisha during the hearing. Masud Mia later stated that there are no legal obstacles to Bidisha's release, as no other cases are currently pending against her.
On May 20, a Dhaka court sentenced Bidisha to two years' imprisonment in a fraud case involving a flat. In addition to the prison sentence, she was fined Tk 10,000, with an additional one month's imprisonment if the fine was not paid, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The case was initially filed at Gulshan Police Station on February 2, 2008, by businessman AKM Mosharraf Hossain Sikdar from Dhaka's Pallabi area. The case statement indicated that 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. Despite several years passing, the flat was not handed over, according to the complaint.
Further allegations in the case stated that Bidisha issued a cheque for Tk 72 lakh on February 9, 2005, which bounced due to insufficient funds. The complainant also accused Bidisha of delaying the matter on various pretexts and later threatening his life instead of returning the money or handing over the flat.