The controversy surrounding actress Pori Moni’s alleged receipt of a luxury car has resurfaced on social media amid renewed discussion over the identity of a person named ‘Masrur’ linked to the case.

The issue gained fresh attention following actress Tama Mirza’s recent joining of AB Bank, which sparked discussions on social media about links between the banking and entertainment sectors.

The renewed debate also brought back the long-running Pori Moni–Masrur controversy, with the name of City Bank Managing Director and novelist Mashrur Arefin again being mentioned.

Arefin, however, has consistently denied any involvement in the matter, including allegations that he gifted Pori Moni a luxury car.

Meanwhile, claims circulating on social media, citing intelligence sources, suggest that the ‘Masrur’ referred to in connection with the car controversy was not Mashrur Arefin but Khandaker Masrur Hossain Mitu, son of former minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and former husband of Saima Wazed, daughter of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

According to the claims, remarks made by then-Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch official Harun-or-Rashid after the Pori Moni Boat Club controversy were allegedly intended to refer to Khandaker Masrur Hossain Mitu in connection with claims that the actress had received an expensive car.

The claims further allege that Arefin’s name was subsequently brought into the discussion, resulting in him being wrongly linked to the controversy. They also suggest that tensions between Harun and businessman Shaukat Aziz Russell, who was associated with City Bank, may have played a role in the development.

Social media posts have also referred to reports of a meeting between Pori Moni and Mitu in Dubai around that time and have linked the matter to the subsequent breakdown of Mitu’s marriage to Saima Wazed. These claims, however, have not been independently verified.

The controversy dates back to August 2021, when reports alleged that Pori Moni had received a Maserati worth around Tk3.5 crore as a gift. Mashrur Arefin’s name appeared in reports at the time, along with claims about an alleged audio recording involving the actress and references to the car.

A report published by the daily Ittefaq also mentioned a person identified as “Shaukat Rubel” as the chairman of City Bank and referred to his alleged closeness to Pori Moni.

Arefin strongly denied the allegations shortly after the report was published. In a social media post, he said he had never met Pori Moni, had no acquaintance or communication with her and did not have her phone number.

He also said that most of his life had been devoted to banking and literary activities and that he did not attend clubs or parties. According to him, people who regularly moved in Dhaka’s club-centred social circles would not be able to claim that they had seen him there.

Arefin also questioned the accuracy of the report’s reference to the City Bank chairman. He said there was no City Bank chairman named “Shaukat Rubel” and suggested that the report may have mistakenly referred to businessman Shaukat Aziz Russell.

He argued that if the identity of the bank’s chairman had been incorrectly reported, questions naturally arose over the evidence on which the allegations against him had been based.

A few days later, on 24 August 2021, Ittefaq published a correction on its front page, acknowledging errors in its 8 August report titled “Relations of 21 influential people with Pori Moni and Pias”. The newspaper said Mashrur Arefin’s name had been mistakenly included in the report and that “Shaukat Rubel” had incorrectly been identified as the chairman of the bank.

Ittefaq stated that neither piece of information was correct and specifically acknowledged that Mashrur Arefin had no involvement in the Pori Moni incident. It also apologised to Arefin and his family for the damage caused to his reputation.

The identity of the ‘Mashrur’ referred to in the original controversy has therefore become a central point in the renewed social media debate. While Mashrur Arefin was named in the 2021 report and denied any connection to Pori Moni or the alleged car gift, recent social media claims have sought to identify the person as Khandaker Masrur Hossain Mitu.