Dhaka, July 11 -- The Detective Branch (DB) of the Bangladesh Police arrested in a mid-night search on Thursday the country's renowned economist Abul Barkat on corruption charges, a DB official said on Friday.

"We have arrested Abul Barkat as an accused in an ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) case", Nasirul Islam, Joint Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB), told ANI over the phone.

"We will handover him to ACC", he added without details.

Abul Barkat was the chairman of the state-owned Janata Bank during Sheikh Hasina's regime.

A case was filed against 30 people, including Abul Barkat, during the Awami League era, for embezzling crores of taka through loan fraud by a company called Anontex, local media reported.

"Last night, ...