For any business deal, Regent Group Chairman Md Shahed alias Shahed Karim used to issue bank cheques with encashment dates that could be two months later.
But in most of the cases, the bank accounts would either be empty or closed.
When the victims tried to contact Shahed over the bounced cheques, he used to threaten them with severe consequences by using names of influential people.
During this period, he used to buy clothes from traders and make payments to them with cheques. But the traders never got any money, said the cop.
"A trader then filed a fraud case against Shahed for not paying him Tk 64 lakh and we arrested Shahed. But within a couple of hours of his arrest, we received dozens of phone calls from top officials and ruling party leaders requesting his release."
The police officer said the case was later transferred to the DMP's Detective Branch and Shahed secured bail.
Investigators said Shahed used to save the phone numbers of his associates with names of different government high officials and top law enforcement officials, including the inspector general of police.
When anyone met Shahed for payment, he used to give signal to his associates to call him. Shahed would then put his phone before that person to make the latter feel that he knew an influential individual very well, sources said.
On Wednesday, a team of Rapid Action Battalion arrested Shahed from near the Labangabati river in Satkhira's Debhata upazila. The Rab said he was attempting to cross the river on a boat to flee to India.
Later in the day, he was flown to Dhaka by a helicopter.
His arrest came a day after the Rab picked up Regent's Managing Director Masud Parvez from Gazipur.