Man accused of defrauding Shaon placed on remand

A man who faces charges of defrauding Meher Afroz Shaon, the widow of celebrated writer Humayun Ahmed, has been remanded in police custody for a day.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Rashidul Islam issued the order on Friday in response to the police's application to interrogate him for three days, according to SI Shariful Islam, a court officer.

According to the case dossier, the suspect, Robiul Islam, called Shaon over the phone, identifying himself as Deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Mia, reports bdnews24.com.

He told her that the finance ministry had received a big chunk of money from Australia to develop Nuhash Palli, her late husband's estate in Gazipur. Robiul then gave her a number which purportedly belonged to a deputy secretary of the finance ministry.

When Shaon called the number, the man on the other end introduced himself as the deputy secretary and asked her to pay a fee of Tk 31,850 to have the fund transferred.

Shaon unsuspectingly sent the money to the fraudster after the call.

But she realised she had been duped upon discovering that the phone number could no longer be reached afterwards. Later on May 12, the manager of Nuhash Polli as the plaintiff filed a case with the Dhanmondi Police Station over the matter.

The Cyber ​​and Special Crime Department of the police's Detective Branch subsequently launched an investigation and arrested the 41-year-old Robiul during a raid in Gaibandha's Gobindaganj on Wednesday.

Detectives also seized two mobile phones and four SIM cards from him.