A Dhaka court has placed Dilip Kumar Agarwala, managing director of Diamond World, on a one-day remand in a case filed at Gulshan Police Station over allegations of laundering around Tk678.19 crore through illegal smuggling of gold and diamonds.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Ariful Islam's court passed the order today (20 October) after a hearing, state counsel Md Shamsuddoha Suman confirmed.
Earlier, the case's investigating officer, CID Sub-Inspector Md Ashraful Hasan, produced the accused in court and sought a three-day remand.
The remand application said the case is currently under investigation, adding that the accused needs to be remanded for three days and questioned closely about the case, so the police can collect and review various data and verify the money laundering.
Defence lawyers argued for the remand to be rejected. The state opposed this.
After hearing both sides, the court granted a one-day remand.
Yesterday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB) arrested Dilip at a house in the capital's Banani.
According to the allegations in the case, the offence took place at various times between 6 September 2006 and 8 February 2024 at Diamond World's showroom and office on Gulshan Avenue.
Bank accounts, relevant documents and interrogations obtained during the Criminal Investigation Department's (CID) inquiry showed that Diamond World legally imported gold bars, gold ornaments, loose diamonds and jewellery worth Tk38.47 crore from abroad through letters of credit.
However, the inquiry also found that over the same period the company bought, exchanged or converted gold and diamonds worth over Tk678.19 crore in the local market, the case alleges.
According to the case statement, the company could not present to the CID investigation officer any valid documents showing from whom or from what source this huge quantity of gold and diamonds worth Tk678.19 crore had been bought in the local market.
In its preliminary inquiry, the CID confirmed that Dilip, using Diamond World and Diamond World Limited, had for a long time bought and sold illegal gold and diamonds through smuggling and earned Tk678.19 crore.
Md Asaduzzaman Sheikh, a police inspector (unarmed) at the CID's Financial Crime Unit, filed the case at Gulshan police station on 17 November last year.
Earlier, after the fall of the Awami League regime in 2024, the then Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Dilip on 3 September 2024 on charges of gold and diamond smuggling, fraud, forgery and money laundering.
The force took him into custody that day at midnight after a long operation surrounding Diamond World's office in Gulshan.
He was later shown arrested in a case filed over the killing of a teenager named Hridoy Ahmed in the capital's Badda during the July Uprising.
He was later released on bail.