A court in Dhaka on Tuesday granted a one-day remand for Dilip Kumar Agarwala, managing director of Diamond World, in a money laundering case filed with Gulshan Police Station.
Ariful Islam, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate, passed the order following a hearing. Mohammad Shamuddoha Suman, state counsel, confirmed the court order.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police had requested a three-day remand to interrogate Dilip Agarwala in the case, which involves allegations of buying and selling gold and diamonds worth around Tk678.19 crore through smuggling and laundering money.
Md Ashraful Hasan, sub-inspector of CID and investigating officer of the case, submitted the remand application.
The application noted that interrogating the accused was required to uncover specific details of the case, investigate the sources of the gold and diamonds, identify other individuals involved, and determine the scope of money laundering.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), gold bars, ornaments, and loose diamonds worth Tk38.47 crore were legally imported from abroad through letters of credit between 6 September 2006 and 8 February 2024.
However, information was found showing the collection of gold and diamonds worth around Tk678.19 crore from the local market through purchase, exchange, and alteration methods during the same period.
CID alleged that necessary legal documents regarding the source and suppliers of these gold and diamonds were not presented. Consequently, the initial investigation suspects that a portion of the collected gold and diamonds may have been brought into the country illegally through smuggling.
Mohammad Asaduzzaman Sheikh, inspector of police at CID’s Financial Crime and Organised Crime Unit, filed the case as the complainant at Gulshan Police Station under the Money Laundering Prevention Act.
Earlier, on 3 September 2024, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Dilip Kumar Agarwala. Subsequently, he was shown arrested in several murder cases as well. After being remanded for various terms in those cases, he was released from prison upon securing bail from lower and higher courts.
Dilip Kumar Agarwala contested as an independent candidate from the Chuadanga-1 constituency in the 12th parliamentary election. He was also a member of the central industry and commerce sub-committee of the Awami League.
