Arrest warrants issued against former Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner, judge, and 5 others
The court has issued arrest warrants against former Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin and former District and Sessions Judge Sadiqul Islam Talukder.
Judge Munshi Abdul Majid of the Cox's Bazar Senior Special Judge's Court issued the order on January 23. Confirming the matter, Public Prosecutor (PP) of the Cox's Bazar Court Siraj Ullah said that the court has issued arrest warrants against the accused after accepting the report submitted by the ACC regarding the fraud.
The accused are charged of forging the plaintiff's signature and documents and removing their names in a case of embezzlement of Tk. 20 crore for the acquisition of land before the construction of a thermal power plant in Matarbari, Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar.
The other accused are Mostaq Ahmed Chowdhury, a lawyer at the Cox's Bazar District and Sessions Judge's Court, Swapan Kanti Pal, a Nazir at the Deputy Commissioner's Office, and Zafar Ahmed, a stenographer at the District and Sessions Judge's Court.
It is learned that Riaz Uddin, the investigation officer of the case and the Assistant Director of the ACC's Cox's Bazar Integrated District Office, submitted a report to the district's Senior Special Judge's Court on July 1 and applied for the issuance of arrest warrants, bail and attachment warrants against the accused.
According to court sources, on November 19, 2014, Kaisarul Islam Chowdhury, a resident of Matarbari, filed a case against 28 people at the Cox's Bazar Senior Special Judge's Court, accusing the then Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin of embezzling about Tk. 20 crore for the acquisition of land for the construction of a thermal power plant.
The court took cognizance of the case and ordered the ACC to investigate. Immediately after the case, the then District and Sessions Judge Sadiqul Islam Talukder sent the documents to the ACC head office, excluding the name of the first accused, Ruhul Amin. But after learning about the fraudulent omission of the name of the Deputy Commissioner from the case, Kaisarul Islam filed another case in the same court a few days later. In that case, seven people, including Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin and District Judge Sadiqul Islam Talukder, were accused. After investigating that case, the ACC submitted an investigation report against five people to the court on July 1.
In this case, former Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin has been accused of assisting the other accused in various ways in forging the plaintiff's signature and documents. At the same time, two accused have been recommended for exemption from the case. They are Abdur Rahim, the public prosecutor of the Cox's Bazar court, and SM Shah Habibur Rahman, the former Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT).
In the report, the ACC said that when the case of Kaisarul Islam was registered in the criminal application register, there were 28 accused including Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin. But three pages were changed and the name of accused number one Ruhul Amin was omitted. Accused number two Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Zafar Alam was made the number one accused. The plaintiff's forged signature was also given in it. The entire document was sent to the ACC with cuts and erasures. The plaintiff's forged signature was proven by the handwriting experts of the CID. ACC and court sources said that 1,414 acres of land was acquired for the construction of the Matarbari power plant. Of this, Tk. 237 crore was allocated as compensation for the shrimp enclosure, houses and infrastructure. Tk. 46 crore was allocated as compensation for the acquisition of the shrimp enclosure. Of this, Tk. 19 crore 82 Lakh out of the compensation of Tk. 46 crore was withdrawn and embezzled by showing 25 fake shrimp enclosures.
According to the district administration, checks of about Tk. 23 crore were initially distributed for compensation for the acquisition of shrimp enclosures. Later, three checks were canceled. After that, several cases were filed against those who took and gave the remaining Tk. 19 crore 8 Lakh 20 thousand. On December 7, 2014, another case was filed against the accused including former Deputy Commissioner Ruhul Amin at Cox's Bazar Sadar Model Police Station. After a long investigation, the ACC found evidence of embezzlement of about Tk. 20 crore.
In this case, the court rejected the bail application on May 22, 2017 and sent Ruhul Amin to jail. Earlier, he was dismissed from his job. However, Ruhul Amin is currently on bail. In the same case, the ACC arrested Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Zafar Alam from Segunbagicha in Dhaka on May 9, Abul Kashem Majumder, former high-ranking assistant of the district administration's land acquisition branch, former surveyor Fakhrul Islam and Cox's Bazar court lawyer Nur Mohammad Sikder from Cox's Bazar town on April 3. The case is currently pending trial at the Chattogram Divisional Special Judge's Court.