Covid certificate forgery: HC rejects Shahed Karim’s bail plea
Shahed Karim has already been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in an arms case
The High Court (HC) on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Mohammad Shahed Karim, chairman of Regent Hospital, in a case of forgery of Covid-19 certificates.
After hearing the plea, the bench of Justice S M Kuddus Zaman and Justice Md Khairul Alam passed the order, Deputy Attorney General Sujit Kumar Chatterjee said.
Earlier, the trial court rejected Shahed's bail plea in the case. He then appealed to the High Court against the trial court order.
According to the case statement, RAB raided the Uttara and Mirpur branches of Regent Hospital on 6 July 2020 on allegations of forgery of coronavirus tests against Regent Hospital Chairman Shahed Karim.
During the drive, fake Covid test reports, and various irregularities including the collection of money from patients in the name of Covid treatment surfaced.
On the night of 7 July of that year, RAB filed a case against 16 people including Shahed with Uttara West Police Station and sealed the aforesaid branches of Regent Hospital.
Shahed Karim has already been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in an arms case.
Meanwhile, the trial of six people including Shahed, in the case of embezzlement of public funds in the name of treatment at the Regent Hospital, was scheduled to start on 4 July but it did not start.
According to the lawyers, the former Director-General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad, an accused in the case, did not appear in court as he was infected with Covid-19. Besides, two other accused – former Deputy Director of DGHS Yunus Ali and Research Officer Md Didarul Islam – are in Saudi Arabia for performing the hajj.
After hearing a time petition, the court fixed 14 August as the date for testimony in the case.
