Md Dewan Samir, owner of Sanjana Manpower and an associate of model Meghna Alam, has been placed on a fresh four-day remand in connection with a high-profile case involving fraud and extortion.
On Tuesday, the accused was produced before the court by the investigation officer, Detective Branch Inspector Akhtar Morshed, who sought a seven-day remand to further probe the case.
Public Prosecutor Omar Faruk Faruki argued in support of the remand on behalf of the state, while the defence appealed for bail and opposed further custody.
Following the hearing from both sides, the court granted a four-day remand.
The case centres on allegations of leveraging attractive women to entrap foreign diplomats and wealthy businessmen in romantic affairs to blackmail them for money.
This marks Samir’s second remand in the case. Earlier, on April 17, the court had approved a five-day remand.
According to the case documents, Meghna Alam, Dewan Samir, and two to three unidentified individuals are part of an organized fraud ring.
The syndicate allegedly used attractive women to lure diplomats and affluent individuals into romantic and illicit relationships. The victims were then blackmailed with threats of reputational damage, leading to the extortion of significant sums of money, the documents say.
Samir is reported to be the CEO of KAWAII Group and the proprietor of Sanjana International, a manpower agency. He also previously ran a business named Mirai International Event Management Ltd.
Investigators claim that Samir appointed attractive and smart women as brand ambassadors for his companies to facilitate easy access to foreign diplomats and businessmen. This was allegedly part of a broader scheme to promote his businesses while executing targeted blackmail operations in collaboration with other suspects.
Meanwhile, Meghna Alam, crowned Miss Earth Bangladesh 2020, was arrested under the Special Powers Act on April 10 and sent to prison for 30 days.
She was later shown arrested in this specific case on April 17 and has remained in custody since then.