Model Meghna Alam on Thursday before a Dhaka court claimed that she had a relationship only with Saudi Arabia鈥檚 ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan.
Meghna, also chairperson of Miss Bangladesh Foundation, made the remark with the permission of Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Masum Mia when she was taken to the court for a hearing to show her arrested in an extortion and fraud case filed with the Dhanmondi police station in the capital Dhaka.
Meghna told the court that she was falsely implicated in the case.
She said, 鈥業 had a relationship only with the Saudi ambassador to Bangladesh, Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan. Businessman Dewan Samir is being called my friend, which is not correct as I do not know him.鈥�
She also claimed that the Saudi ambassador contacted her for building a relationship with her.
The Dhaka court later showed her arrested in the extortion and fraud case.
Following the court鈥檚 approval, she was sent back to jail.
On April 15, Dhanmondi model police station inspector (investigation) Mohammad Abdul Alim filed the case accusing Meghna, Samir, and two to three unidentified persons of extortion and fraud.
According to the case statement, Meghna, Samir, and two to three others were allegedly active members of an organised fraud gang.
They allegedly used women to lure diplomats and representatives of foreign missions in Bangladesh, as well as wealthy local businessmen, into romantic and illicit relationships, and then used various illegal tactics to extort money by threatening to tarnish their reputation, the case statement said.
According to the statement, Samir is the CEO of a business organisation called KAWAII Group and the owner of a manpower firm named Sanjana International.
As part of a scheme to gain access to diplomats and wealthy businessmen, Samir allegedly used women as brand ambassadors in his companies to blackmail diplomats and extort large sums of money, the case statement said.
The case statement also said that a meeting was held at a restaurant at Dhanmondi in the capital on March 29, where Meghna, Samir, and others allegedly conspired to demand and extort $5 million from the diplomat through blackmail.
However, the name of the diplomat was not mentioned in the case statement.
Meanwhile, the same court on Thursday placed Samir on a five-day remand in the case after he was produced before it with a seven-day remand prayer.
Earlier, on April 9, the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police detained Meghna from her residence in the Bashundhara residential area.
Next day, a Dhaka court ordered Meghna be kept in jail for 30 days under the Special Powers Act, 1974.
On April 13, the High Court issued a rule asking relevant government authorities to explain in two weeks why Meghna鈥檚 arrest under the Special Powers Act should not be declared illegal.
