BANGLADESH

Daily Amader Somoy editor Naimul Islam Khan has described a fraud case against him as a conspiracy to separate him from the newspaper.

After the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court summoned Naimul on charges of fraud on Tuesday, he told bdnews24.com, "This case is part of a plot to take away Amader Somoy from me."

Magistrate Shahadat Hossain issued the order after hearing the statement of plaintiff BNS Group chairman M N H Bulu. The case was filed earlier in the day.

According to case details, the daily faced serious economic crisis at one point of its publication. The accused, via a third person, met with the plaintiff at his business headquarters on the 18th floor of Ocean Tower at Banani and asked him to buy shares of the newspaper.

The plaintiff believed him and agreed to buy the shares and paid the accused a total of Tk 23.5 million via Social Investment Bank, Pubali Bank, United Commercial Bank and Mercantile Bank through cheques over the last one year.

However, the accused secretly handed over the shares to another person even though he took the payments from the plaintiff.

The daily's editor promised to return the money along with interest when the BNS Group chief met him personally.

According to the plaintiff, he trusted the accused and took no legal action. But the accused did not honour his word, and finally the plaintiff sent him a legal notice on Mar 16.

Naimul accepted the notice on Mar 21.

Bulu again confronted him and was told that the money shall be returned along with interest.

However, the accused editor failed to keep his word again and started dillydallying. Finally on May 25, Naimul said that he would not pay back.

There are two witnesses with the plaintiff in the case.