Dhaka: A Dhaka court on Thursday indicted Bangladesh’s first Hindu Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others on charges of embezzling 40 million taka from a bank, a court official said.
The indictment comes seven months after another Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against the 69-year-old ex-chief justice who lives in the US and was described as a “fugitive” by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in its charge-sheet.
“The court today framed charges against S K Sinha and 10 others, beginning their trial in the Farmers Bank scandal,” said a prosecution lawyer in Dhaka.
He said six of the accused in the case were former officials of the bank while among the rest includes a reported aide of Sinha.
The prosecutor said only three of the accused faced the trial in person as the rest were “on the run to evade justice”.
The court officials said Special Judge Shaikh Nazmul Alam read out the charges and set August 18 as the date for the next hearing.
The ACC filed charges against Sinha and 10 others while the court referred the case to the independent graft body for investigation.
The ACC said it found evidence of fraud involving transactions of 40 million taka (USD 472,995) borrowed with fake documents by two businessmen from the bank in 2016. The money was deposited in Sinha’s account.
Sinha now lives in the US where he is said to have sought asylum. (PTI)
