Jubo League leader Samrat formally charged in illegal arms case

Police have pressed formal charges against expelled Jubo League leader Ismail Chowdhury Samrat in a case involving illegal firearms.

“We submitted the chargesheet in a case started with Ramna police. He is charged with possession of an illegal firearm,” said Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, assistant director of RAB headquarters.

 “The chargesheet against Samrat has been filed with the court but it is yet to be accepted by the judge,” said Sub-Inspector Md Nizamuddin, general recording officer of court police.

“Samrat was charged under Section 19 (a) and Section 19 (f) of the Arms Act. The maximum punishment for the offences is life imprisonment," Public Prosecutor Azad Rahman told bdnews24.com.

Samrat, the former president of Jubo League’s Dhaka South unit, came under the scanner 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.

He subsequently went into hiding before being arrested along with his close aide Enamul Haque Arman in Cumilla on October 6.

The RAB later conducted a five-hour 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.