Economist Abul Barkat, who once said there would be no Hindus left in Bangladesh if exodus continued, sent to jail in graft case

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana passed the order of sending him to prison after the ACC submitted an application seeking his incarceration, confirmed an ACC official working in the court, reported The Daily Star.

He was arrested on Thursday at his residence in Dhanmondi-3 area of Dhaka city.

Barkat had previously served as the chairman of Janata Bank PLC.

What is the charge Barkat is facing?

On February 20 this year, the ACC filed a case alleging that during his tenure as chairman, Abul Barkat was involved in loan fraud involving AnonTex Group, a readymade garments company, resulting in the embezzlement of Tk 297 crore from Janata Bank, reported The Daily Star.

Twenty-three people were named in the case.

"Arrested without any investigation"

Meanwhile, Barkat's daughter Aruni Barkat told ANI: "Last night, 20/25 people, posing as DB police, entered my father’s bedroom and took him away. They did not show any warrant copy. We are ready to fight the case brought against him legally."

She further said: "We could know about the case from media reports. No one told us about the case. No one came to investigate. If they had come to investigate, we would have definitely cooperated."

"My father taught at Dhaka University for 40 years. He was a freedom fighter. My mother was also a teacher. I saw my father only doing good for people. We are disappointed that he was arrested without any investigation," she said.

Barkat's previous warning on Hindu exodus

Barkat once alerted that there would be no Hindus left in Bangladesh in next 30 years if the current rate of exodus continued.

“The rate of exodus over the past 49 years points to that direction,” the Dhaka University teacher says in his book Political economy of reforming agriculture-land-water bodies in Bangladesh as quoted by Dhaka Tribune in its report published in 2016.