Retired army officer, wife sentenced for 10 years for possessing counterfeit currencies

A Dhaka tribunal has sentenced a retired army official and his wife to 10 years' imprisonment in a case filed for possessing counterfeit currencies of Tk 3 lakh at their residence.

The accused are Col (retd) Shahid Uddin Chowdhury and his wife Farhana Anjum Khan.

Judge Hafsa Jhuma of the Special Tribunal-16 of Dhaka handed down the sentence in their absence today.

The tribunal fined them Tk 50,000 each, in default of which they will serve six months more in jail.

The tribunal acquitted two of their accomplices -- Syed Akidul Ali and Khorshed Alam Patwary -- who are now in the prison.

The punishment of the couple will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender, said Judge Hafsa Jhuma in her judgment.

The tribunal issued arrest warrants against the couple and sent it to Cantonment Police Station for the next course of action.

Earlier, the prosecution and the defence completed their arguments and the tribunal recorded statements of 10 prosecution witnesses, including complainant of the case.

According to the prosecution, a team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on January 17 of 2019 raided the residence of the couple in Baridhara DOHS and seized two pistols with 11 rounds of bullets, counterfeit currencies, a shotgun and several magazines from there.

Later, Biplob Kishore Shil, an inspector of CTTC, filed two separate cases against four people including the couple with Cantonment Police Station.