Dhaka: A court here today fixed September 8 for submitting the investigation report in a graft case against former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, commonly known as SK Sinha. Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md. Zakir Hossain Galib set the date for the report’s submission in relation to the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) concerning the alleged accumulation of illegal wealth through the misuse of power.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the case was filed on October 7, 2021, by ACC Deputy Director Md. Gulshan Anwar with the Integrated District Office Dhaka-1. SK Sinha stands accused of acquiring assets worth Tk 7.14 crore in the names of his brother and relatives and subsequently transferring the money. The case statement details that SK Sinha allegedly received a plot in his name in the Uttara Residential Area from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and also secured a three-katha plot for his brother Narendra Kumar Sinha in the Purbachal project of RAJUK by allegedly misusing his power and committing fraud. This plot was later upgraded to five kathas using his influence.
The investigation revealed that SK Sinha transferred the Purbachal plot to Road No. 6 (House No. 1/A) of Sector No. 4 of Uttara and obtained RAJUK’s approval. Following the allotment, he granted his relative Shankhajit Singh the ‘Power of Attorney’ for the plot. During the investigation, the ACC found evidence that SK Sinha himself paid Tk 75 lakh to RAJUK for the Uttara plot. Subsequently, a nine-storey building was constructed on that plot at a cost exceeding Tk 6.31 crore, with the construction cost estimated by an independent engineer.
The ACC alleged that the cost of the RAJUK plot was Tk 75 lakh and that a total of Tk 7 crore, 6 lakh, 5 thousand 865 was spent. Out of this amount, 70 lakh was taken as an advance for the sale of a flat in the building to one Khaleda Chowdhury. Additionally, the remaining Tk 6.36 crore and Tk 78 lakh were deposited in a bank account in the name of his relative, Shankhjit Singh. The ACC further alleged that SK Sinha misused his power to acquire assets worth Tk 7.14 crore, which he transferred and converted through various bank accounts in the names of his brother and relatives, with no legitimate source of acquiring these assets, rendering them inconsistent with his known sources of income.
The ACC filed the case under Sections 27(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2004, 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1947, and Sections 4(2), (3) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act of 2012. Previously, on November 9, 2021, SK Sinha was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Dhaka court in two separate cases of embezzlement and smuggling of Tk 4 crore.