A court has ordered Dhaka Times Editor Arifur Rahman Dolon into jail pending his possible indictment in a Tk 20 billion money laundering case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Ash-Shams Zaglul Hossain passed the order after denying him bail on Tuesday.

The court was scheduled to frame the charges on the day and order the beginning of the trial, but it set Apr 22 to accept the charges, said Additional Public Prosecutor Tapas Kumar Paul.

Expelled Faridpur Awami League leader Sazzad Hossain Barkat and his brother Imtiaz Hasan Rubel were also accused in the case filed in June 2020 at Kafrul Police Station. 

Police formally pressed the charges against 10 people in the case in March 2021, but some inconsistencies in the charge sheet prompted the court to order a transfer of the case to the Criminal Investigation Department of police.
CID named 46 people, including the editor of the online news outlet, in its charge sheet. Arifur had secured bail from the High Court. 

He contested the Jan 7 general election as an independent for the Faridpur-1 constituency and lost to the Awami League’s Abdur Rahman.