A Dhaka court has sentenced Regent Group Chairman Mohammad Shahed, alias Shahed Karim to life term imprisonment in an arms case.
Dhaka Senior Special Tribunal 1 Judge KM Emrul Kayesh on Monday delivered the verdict in the case over recovering a pistol from Shahed's car.
The tribunal also sentenced him to jail for seven more years as a bullet was also recovered along with the firearm.
The judge handed down the verdict in a packed courtroom after 2pm when Shahed was present in the dock.
On September 20, the court set September 28 to deliver the judgement after concluding hearing of arguments from both sides - prosecution and defence.
During the trial process, the tribunal recorded testimonies of 11 out of 14 prosecution witnesses, including of the plaintiff.
The trial started on August 27 with framing charges against Shahed, who is also an accused in dozens of various cases.
Police's Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Md Sairul Islam on July 30 submitted a charge sheet accusing Shahed alone.
Shahed was arrested by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from Satkhira in the early hours of July 15 when he was trying to flee to India on a boat. He was later airlifted to the capital.
Four days later, a DB police team found Shahed's car in front of a house on Sector 11 in Uttara West area. They seized a pistol with a single bullet from the car and the case was filed under the Arms Act at Uttara West police station.
Shahed was on the run since health officials and RAB raided the Uttara and Mirpur branches of Regent Hospital on July 6, following complaints that the hospital was issuing fake Covid-19 certificates, as well as charging exorbitant fees for the testing and treatment of patients.
RAB also found evidence of at least 6,000 fake Covid-19 test certificates during the raid.
The next day, RAB filed a case against 17 people, including Shahed, at the police station.