A Dhaka court has granted bail to controversial casino "kingpin" Selim Prodhan in a case filed under the Narcotics Control Act with Gulshan Police Station in the capital.

The order was issued by Afroza Sheuly, judge of the Dhaka Third Additional Metropolitan Sessions Court, following a hearing on the matter today (20 October).

The information was confirmed by the court's bench assistant, Golam Nabi.

Selim Prodhan's lawyer Advocate Shahidul Islam Shihab submitted the bail petition on his client's behalf. After the hearing, the court granted bail on a bond of Tk5,000.

The defence counsel noted that as Prodhan has already been granted bail in all other pending cases against him, there are no remaining legal barriers to his release from custody.

Earlier, in the early hours of 5 September this year, Prodhan and 9 others were detained from a restaurant named Nexus Café Place in Baridhara, Gulshan. Police claimed to have recovered 6.7 kilogrammes of shisha from the premises. Sub-Inspector Mahmudul Hasan of Gulshan Police Station later filed a case against them under the Narcotics Control Act.

Prodhan first came under law enforcement scrutiny during the nationwide anti-casino drive in 2019. On 30 September that year, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-1) arrested him from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while he was reportedly attempting to flee the country.

Subsequent raids on his residences and offices in Gulshan and Banani led to the recovery of Tk29 lakh in cash, a large quantity of foreign liquor, multiple foreign currencies, and a deer hide. A mobile court then sentenced him to six months in prison, the same day, under the Wildlife Conservation Act over the seized deer hides.

Additionally, on 27 October 2019, the Anti-Corruption Commission's Deputy Director, Gulshan Anwar Prodhan, lodged a case accusing him of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk12.28 crore. In April 2023, Dhaka's Special Court-8 sentenced him to four years' imprisonment and fined him Tk10 lakh under the Money Laundering Prevention Act, with a further six months in default.

He had received another four-year sentence and a fine of Tk1 lakh under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act for acquiring assets beyond known sources of income, with an additional one month's imprisonment in default.

He was released on bail in October 2023.

Casino / illegal wealth