A Sylhet court on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir, and four others in connection with a cheque fraud case.
Judge Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid of the Sylhet Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court passed the order after hearing an appeal in the case, which was filed by Ahmed Noor, former Sylhet bureau chief of Kaler Kantho and currently the editor of the local daily Sylhet Mirror.
Confirming the court's decision, the plaintiff’s lawyer Emad Ullah Shahidul Islam said the warrants were issued after the accused failed to respond to previous summons issued by the court.
The other accused in the case are Kaler Kantho publisher Moynal Hossain Chowdhury, current editor Hasan Hafiz, former editor and cheque signatory Shahed Muhammad Ali, and former Bangladesh Pratidin editor Naem Nizam. Kaler Kantho itself has been named as an institutional defendant.
Court sources said the case was initially filed on December 5 last year, when the court ordered the six accused to appear before it.
According to the case statement, Ahmed Noor served as Kaler Kantho’s Sylhet bureau chief from its inception until September 2021. He alleged that his service benefits under the Wage Board were delayed by the management. Though partial payments were made and 10 post-dated cheques were issued, eight of them—worth Tk 601,824—were dishonoured.
Despite serving a legal notice and receiving verbal assurances from the accused's lawyer, the payments remained unsettled, prompting Noor to file two cheque dishonour cases. The arrest warrants were issued in the first of those cases on Thursday.
SR
