Rupganj (Narayanganj) Correspondent

A permanent status quo has been issued on the High Court's order for the candidacy and symbol allocation of the accused Salim Pradhan, who was convicted in the casino scandal and illegal acquisition of wealth in the Rupganj upazila elections of Narayanganj.

As a result, the court has permanently suspended the order of validity of his candidacy for chairman in the upazila parishad election.

On May 6, the Supreme Court Appellate Division Chamber Judge Court issued this status on the order of the High Court.

Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Mahin M. Rahman confirmed this information and said that the accused Salim Pradhan, who was discussed in the casino case and was sentenced for illegally acquiring wealth, submitted nomination papers for the post of chairman in the Rupganj Upazila Parishad elections.

After the scrutiny on April 23, the returning officer canceled his nomination papers due to convictions in money laundering and ACC cases.

Later, when Salim Pradhan appealed to the District Commissioner seeking the validity of the nomination, the District Commissioner dismissed the appeal and upheld the cancellation of the nomination on April 28. On April 30, Salim Pradhan appealed to the Division Bench of the High Court seeking the validity of his candidature and allotment of symbols.

A division bench of the High Court ordered the validity of Salim Pradhan's candidature and allotment of symbols following the writ. Rupganj upazila parishad chairman candidate Awami League leader Habibur Rahman appealed against that order in the Supreme Court's chamber judge's court on Thursday, May 2. In view of the appeal, the court issued status quo on the content of the writ filed by Salim Pradhan. A hearing was held on Monday, May 6. After this, Judge MA Enayetur Rahim issued the order.

Supreme Court Senior Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan heard on behalf of Habibur Rahman, candidate of Doat Kalam Prateek, member of Rupganj Upazila Awami League Executive Council.

Barrister Mahin M Rahman was his assistant. After hearing both sides, the judge issued a permanent status quo on the order of the high court.

It is to be noted that RAB arrested Salim Pradhan on September 30, 2019 in Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in an anti-casino operation. After that, his home and office were raided and foreign and domestic currency and a large quantity of foreign liquor were seized.

At that time, law enforcement agencies said that Salim Pradhan is the main owner of online casinos or online gambling in Bangladesh. He smuggled a lot of money abroad. A case was filed against him in this regard.