DB: Shahed lied about his Covid-19 positive report to avoid remand

Regent Group boss Md Shahed, alias Shahed Karim, lied to the court about him testing Covid-19 positive in order to be exempted from police remand, according to the Detective Branch (DB) of police.

Kazi Shafiqul Alam, deputy commissioner of Detective Branch (DB), Uttara division, told Dhaka Tribune: “Shahed claimed he tested positive for Covid-19 in May but his statement is suspicious.

Shahed lied about being Covid-19 positive just to gain sympathy, Shafiqul said, adding that all the issues are being investigated by the police.

The police official added: “Before the raid conducted by RAB, Shahed had on various talk shows, talked about him suffering from Covid-19, donating blood to Covid-19 patients, and providing free treatment to many patients.

“But these claims are baseless. Shahed most likely made a fake Covid-19 positive certificate for himself, swapping his samples with an actual coronavirus infected patient.”

He staged this drama to benefit from the health department, Shafiqul added.

During a remand hearing in a Dhaka court on Thursday, Shahed claimed that he was Covid-19 positive and his father died of the same disease.

Police likened Shahed’s ploys to Shamima Nur Papia’s actions, who was arrested for five cases filed against her, and was released from remand owing to her sickness.

Papia, after staying in remand for just one day out of the 14 days of remand granted by the court, established she was sick. Thus, RAB could not extract information relevant to the cases filed against her since she was taken to jail and could not be remanded further.

Shahed adopted the same approach to gain sympathy after his arrest, according to police.

Other malpractices of Shahed

In addition to the Regent Hospital test scam, Shahed opened fake establishments and supplied low quality coronavirus protective gear.

He has supplied 50,000 personal protective equipment (PPE), 100,000 masks, and 20,000 body bags to the health department, all of which were subpar in quality, according to DB police.

An organization called Albert Global was used as a front for this. 

DB Police Additional Commissioner Abdul Baten on Saturday said there are obviously some more people behind both Shahed and JKG Health Care Chairman Dr Sabrina Arif Chowdhury. They will also be interrogated.