The elder brother of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and two of his nephews gave judicial statements as witnesses before three separate magistrates in a case filed against him for allegedly amassing more than Tk 7 crore illegally.
They are SK Sinha’s brother Narendra Kumar Sinha and nephews Shankhajit Sinha and Sujan Kumar Sinha.
But details of the statements, however, could not be known immediately.
Metropolitan Magistrate Md Mamunur Rashid recorded the statement of Narendra while Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jashim recorded Shankhajit Sinha’s statement. Metropolitan Magistrate Mehedi Hasan recorded the statement of Sujan Sinha.
The magistrates recorded their statements after Gulshan Anower Prodhan, ACC’s deputy director and the investigation officer of the case, brought them to their chambers in this regard.
In their statements, Narendra and Shankhajit told the magistrates they knew nothing about SK Sinha’s plots at Uttara in their names while Sujan was appointed to look into the construction work of the building which was built on the plot, court sources said.
On October 10, 2021, ACC Deputy Director Md Gulshan Anwar filed the case against SK Sinha for amassing wealth of Tk 7.14 crore in his brother and relative’s names through misuse of power, transferring and handing over the money.
According to the case documents, SK Sinha during his tenure as the chief justice took a plot from Rajuk in Uttara Residential Area. Later by misusing power, he took another three-katha plot in his brother Narendra Kumar Sinha’s name in the Rajuk Purbachal Project.
He later elevated the three-katha plot to a five-katha and shifted the plot from Purbachal to Uttara Sector-4 in Dhaka.
SK Sinha is accused of giving power of attorney for this plot to one of his relatives Shankhajit Sinha.
The ACC in its probe found that the former chief justice paid Tk 75,00,000 to Rajuk against this plot and raised a nine-floor apartment complex on it at a cost of Tk 6.31 crore.
The anti-graft body in its case said they did not find any legal source of earning for the money used in buying the plot and developing the apartment complex.
On November 9 last year, another Dhaka court sentenced SK Sinha to 11 years’ imprisonment in a case filed over laundering Tk4 crore.
Another case was also filed against SK Sinha and his another brother, Ananta Kumar Sinha, for laundering about Tk 2.35 crore ($280,000).
