Regent's Shahed Karim jailed for life in arms case
A Dhaka court has sentenced Regent Group Chairman Shahed Karim to life imprisonment in an arms case.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes passed the order today.
"We are not satisfied with the verdict and we will appeal to the High Court," said Shahed's lawyer in his reaction to the order.
Shahed has been awarded lifetime imprisonment in one section of Article 19 and got seven years in jail in another section under the same law.
There are 32 more cases under trial against Shahed, his lawyer added.
Expressing satisfaction over the verdict, state lawyer Advocate Abdullah Abu said, "This is an exemplary verdict against the persons like Shahed, who cheats people and society in guise of being man of honour."
On July 15, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained Regent Hospital Chairman Md Shahed alias Shahed Karim from the border area of Satkhira on various charges of fraud during the coronavirus pandemic. Later, he was brought to Dhaka by helicopter.
The court placed Shahed on a 10-day remand the next day in a case filed on charges of various incidents of fraud including faking Covid-19 test reports.
After that, the Detective Branch (DB) of police on July 18 went to Uttara on a drive taking Shahed with them and seized a loaded pistol and illegal drugs from a car that was used by Shahed. SM Gaffarul Alam, inspector at the DB, then filed a case against Shahed at Uttara West police station under the Arms Act.
On July 30, Inspector Md Shairul of the DB filed a charge-sheet against Shahed in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Morshed Al Mamun Bhuiyan.
On August 27, Shahed was indicted by Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Kayes.
Testimony in the case ended on September 15. The court heard the testimony of 11 out of 14 witnesses in the case over four working days.
On September 16, pleading innocence in the arms case, Shahed has sought justice from court.
On September 18, Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu and Additional Public Prosecutor Tapash Kumar Pal demanded the maximum sentence, life imprisonment, for Shahed in the case.
