Bangladesh Court indicts first Hindu CJ in Graft Case

On Thursday, a Dhaka Court indicted Bangladesh's first Hindu Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and ten others on charges of embezzling 40 million taka ($472,995) from a bank, a Court official said. The indictment comes 7 months after another Court issued an arrest warrant against the 69-year-old Ex-Chief Justice who lives in the United States & was described as a "fugitive" by the anti-corruption commission (ACC) in its chargesheet.

"The Court today framed charges against S K Sinha & 10 others (former officials of the bank), beginning their trial in the Farmers Bank scandal," said a prosecution lawyer. The date for the next hearing is Aug 18. The ACC said it found evidence of fraud involving transactions of 40 million taka borrowed with fake documents by 2 businessmen from the bank in 2016. The money was deposited in Sinha's account. 

Sinha now lives in the United States where he is said to have sought asylum. The graft case was lodged days after Sinha, in his autobiography "A Broken Dream: Rule of Law, Human Rights & Democracy", claimed he was forced to resign in 2017 following threats. His comments had drawn a sharp reaction from PM Sheikh Hasina. agencies 

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