Regent chairman Shahed jailed in Tk 216m cheque fraud case

Mohammad Shahed, chairman of Regent Group and Regent Hospital, was sent to jail on Monday after a Dhaka court rejected his bail petition in a cheque dishonour case involving Tk 216 million.

Judge Sadiq Ahmed of Dhaka’s Joint Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court-5 passed the order.

Shahed’s lawyer, Mohammad Dabir Uddin, said his client had been convicted in a case filed by Mercantile Cooperative Bank over a bounced cheque worth Tk 216 million. On May 4 last year, the court sentenced Shahed to one year in prison and fined him an additional Tk 216 million.

The lawyer said Shahed had been in jail when the case was filed and was not shown arrested in the proceedings. He added that the defence would appeal the verdict.

Earlier in the day, Shahed was arrested from the ECB area in Mirpur.

Shahed gained notoriety in 2020 after Regent Hospital was accused of issuing fake COVID-19 test certificates without conducting tests. Following raids by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), authorities sealed the hospital and filed a case against Shahed and 17 others.

He was arrested in Satkhira on July 15, 2020, while allegedly attempting to flee to India. Released on bail from Dhaka Central Jail in September 2024, Shahed has faced 96 cases, including five in which he has been convicted. 

-MAL/SA