Police have arrested Bidisha Ershad, the second wife of former president and Jatiya Party founder chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad. She was arrested from her residence in Gulshan, Dhaka, at around 8:30pm on Tuesday (August 25). Police said there was an arrest warrant against her.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the DMP’s Gulshan Division M Tanvir Ahmed and Gulshan Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Daud Hossain said 55-year-old Bidisha had been sentenced to two years in prison in a fraud case. She was arrested based on a warrant issued by the court.

On May 20 this year, a court sentenced Bidisha to two years of rigorous imprisonment in a case filed over an alleged fraud involving the sale of a flat. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jamshed Alam delivered the verdict. The court also fined her Tk 10,000, with an additional one month in prison if she failed to pay the fine.

Businessman Mosharraf Hossain Sikder filed the case with Gulshan Police Station in 2008, alleging that he had been defrauded in connection with the sale of a flat at President Park in Baridhara.

According to the case statement, Mosharraf was looking to purchase a flat in Baridhara. After receiving information through an acquaintance, Bidisha showed him a flat at President Park on July 1, 2001, and offered to sell it to him. The two sides subsequently agreed on a price of Tk 80 lakh.

The complaint further states that on July 10, 2001, Bidisha called the complainant to her Rajanigandha office in Banani and asked him to issue a pay order of Tk 75 lakh in the name of her nominated person and friend, Abdul Razzaq. Mosharraf later paid the amount through Standard Chartered Bank’s Kawran Bazar branch. A deed of agreement was subsequently executed between the two parties.

Under the agreement, the flat was supposed to be registered after obtaining approval from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) and paying the remaining amount. Although the flat was promised to be handed over by July 10, 2002, the complainant alleged that it was not delivered even after the deadline had passed.

According to the case documents, when Mosharraf pressed Bidisha to hand over the flat, she assured him that the money would be refunded. On February 9, 2005, she allegedly issued a cheque for Tk 72 lakh. However, when the cheque was deposited within the stipulated time, it was dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the account.

The complainant alleged that Bidisha continued to delay the matter on various pretexts and failed to return either the money or the flat. He also alleged that she threatened to have him killed by hired criminals.

Bidisha was born in Bagerhat, Khulna, in 1971. Her nickname is ‘Dina’, and her father was poet Abu Bakar. She first met Hussain Muhammad Ershad on July 14, 1998, and they later got married. The couple have a son, Shahata Jarab Ershad (Eric).

Following her divorce from Ershad, their strained relationship and aspects of Bidisha’s personal life attracted media attention at different times. She also authored an autobiographical book titled Living with the Enemy.