A Dhaka court issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for Sharmin Sultana, chairman of Journey Multimedia Limited, and her husband, Nazmul Hossain, who serves as the firm’s managing director.
This action was taken in response to a case filed under the Negotiable Instruments Act. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Arfatul Rakib issued the order after the accused failed to comply with the court's previous instructions.
The court had previously summoned the two accused to appear before it on the specified date, but they did not comply.
Advocate Latifur Rahman, representing the plaintiff, stated: "The court issued arrest warrants for the accused as they did not comply with its order."
The case, filed by writer and researcher Amitabh Dewry on July 19, revolves around a dishonoured cheque. According to the case documents, Nazmul, who also serves as the Chief Executive of Journey Multimedia, and Sharmin issued a cheque for Tk 36,17,632 on March 12, 2022 as part of the payment for commercial rights to the book titled "Bangabandhu Manei Swadhinota." However, the cheque could not be cashed on April 26.
Amitabh sent a legal notice, but the accused did not respond. In his case statement, Amitabh claimed that he was owed Tk 66,17,632 for the book's commercial rights and that the accused had issued the cheque for the first instalment, but it had bounced due to insufficient funds in their bank account.
The case was filed under Section 138 and 140 of the NI Act, with the case number 2639/2023.
Although the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs was the publisher of the first and second editions of the book, allegations were later made against Journey Multimedia Limited for becoming the 'publisher' through fraudulence. This matter is now pending before the Appeal Division of the Supreme Court.
The Department of Primary and Mass Education had purchased 65,700 copies of the book under the 'Bangabandhu Book Corner' project to reach millions of children in all primary schools in the country during the Mujib Centenary, for which Nazmul and Sharmin received more than Tk 11 crore.
Allegations of corruption in the purchase of the book led to a public interest writ filed in the High Court, with writer Amitabh Dewry becoming a party to that writ.
