The Anti-Corruption Commission has petitioned the High Court to revoke the bail granted to Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat, a Jubo League leader who was expelled for his alleged ties to a gambling racket, in a case of accumulating illegal wealth and money laundering.
The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat may hear the plea, said ACC lawyer Md Khurshid Alam Khan, reports bdnews24.com.
On Monday, the ACC received permission to file the petition. It was then submitted to the relevant wing of the High Court in the afternoon.
Samrat was freed from jail after 31 months on Aug 10. He spent a few more days in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University, where he had been receiving treatment under police custody, before he was released. On Aug 26 Samrat, accompanied by hundreds of party activists, went to pay his respects at the mural of Bangabandhu on Dhanmondi Road 32.
Asked about his political intentions by the media, Samrat said at the time: “I have no political intentions. I have always been an activist for Sheikh Hasina and will continue to work as her activist.”
Samrat is facing four separate cases. He had received bail in three of them before he was granted bail in the ACC case over illegal wealth on Aug 10, clearing the path for his release from prison. The ACC is now moving to block the bail in that fourth case.
Samrat, the former president of Jubo League’s Dhaka South unit, came under scrutiny over his alleged ties to the illegal gambling business after the Rapid Action Battalion busted casino operations in numerous clubs in the capital in September 2020.
He subsequently went into hiding before being arrested in Cumilla on Oct 6 that year.
Samrat was implicated in four cases relating to the possession of firearms, narcotics, money laundering and illegal wealth acquisition.
The RAB later conducted a raid on Samrat’s office in Kakrail’s Bhuiyan Trade Centre with him in tow.
They subsequently recovered a foreign pistol, 1,160 yaba tablets, 19 bottles of foreign liquor, two kangaroo hides and 'electrical torture equipment.'
A mobile court handed Samrat a six-month prison sentence for possession of the kangaroo skins under the Wild Animal Protection Act and he was later sent to the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.
Two cases were also filed against him under the Narcotics Control Act and Arms Act with the Ramna Police Station. He was named in a money laundering and illegal wealth accumulation case afterwards.
Among the four cases against him, Samrat secured bail in a possession of arms case and a money laundering case from two separate Dhaka courts on Apr 10. He was granted bail in the narcotics case on Apr 11.