Ex-Jubo League leader Samrat secures bail in illegal wealth case, cleared for release from jail

Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat, the former Jubo League leader who allegedly ran an illegal gambling racket, has secured bail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission over illegally amassing wealth.

The bail, granted by the Dhaka Sixth Special Judge Al Asad Md Asifuzzaman on Wednesday, clears the way for Samrat’s release from jail. He had previously secured bail in three other cases filed against him.

The judge had previously scrapped his petition for bail in the illegal wealth case on Apr 28. Earlier, the same court denied him bail on Apr 13.

The indictment hearing for the case was eventually rescheduled to Jun 8 following a petition filed by the defendant.

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.

“He has secured bail in four cases filed against him. He had spent an extended time in prison as part of his sentence issued by the mobile court. Now there is no legal bar to his release,” Samrat’s lawyer Ehsanul Haque Shomaji said.

ACC Deputy Director Md Jahangir started the case involving the illegal acquisition of over Tk 20 million by Samrat in 2019.

According to the case documents, Samrat bought plots in Dhaka's Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Uttara, among other areas, with his ill-gotten wealth. He also has assets worth around Tk 10 billion in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and the United States.

The ACC has also started a case against Samrat's close aide Enamul Hoque Arman, who is charged with amassing over Tk 20 million illegally.

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 along with Arman in Cumilla on Oct 6 that year.

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.