Monwar Hossain, hailed from Bonerchar village of Dhamrai area of Dhaka, died of cancer six years ago. However, his sister Jasmine Sultana alias Asma Akter filed a case in the court on last October in charge of killing her brother. The police of Dhamrai Thana are conducting investigation over the case. An affluent person in the area, policemen and husband of the plaintiff were charged in the case.
The syndicate members of filing unfair cases to the people extort huge money from the accused to remove their name/s from the cases. Such a syndicate is conducting ‘Case Trades’ across the country.
A ‘Case Trade’ syndicate run by a father and a son started this ‘Case Business’ in ashulia area of Dhaka after the Awami government ousted in the mass uprising in august. They tried to extort huge amount of money by filing fake cases through a land-lady in the area. However, they couldn’t able to run free as police arrested two persons of this syndicate after submitting final report over this crime.
Such a picture of ‘case trading’ is not unique in Dhamrai or Ashulia. It has been found that after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 last year, an unscrupulous case trading syndicate has developed in the country.
This syndicate is earning crores of taka through inserting the names of people from different classes and professions in fake cases and then removing the names after taking money. Thus, this syndicate has become a terror throughout the country.
The members of the ‘case trading’ syndicate include local politicians, unscrupulous lawyers and police. However, various responsible authorities, including the advisor to the interim government, have said that these fabricated cases will be reviewed during the investigation. After such statements by the responsible authorities, the police in some areas have given importance to investigate the cases, but most of the police stations have remained mysteriously silent.
Many police officers are getting involved in ‘case trading’ in the name of investigating these cases. They are also earning lakhs of taka by removing names from the accused-list of the case. That is why many have described the role of the police as mysterious. Moreover, the members of the 'case trading' syndicate are also demanding extortion even from the police officers who have been accused in the cases.
A police officer told The Kaler Kantho, “These fake cases are being filed due to extortion, past enmity and political vendetta. Behind these fake cases are incidents of land grabbing and harassment. And people from various classes and professions, including wealthy businessmen, contractors, government officials, have been made accused in the 'case trading'. Again, in many occasions, it was seen that just as the plaintiff does not know the accused, and vice versa. In some cases, the plaintiff himself is surprised to see his name as the plaintiff.
In an attempt to murder case filed at the capital's Khilgaon police station, 36 of the 180 accused are police officers. Lakhs of taka have also been demanded from these police officers to remove their names from the cases. However, the police officials did not pay the demanded extortion. Even after that, the members of the 'case business' syndicate did not stop. They are changing their tactics to extort lakhs of taka from the accused in the case.
Let’s look at the Dhamrai incident again…the Dhamrai Upazila Parishad elections were held on March 23, 2014. During that election, a fight broke out among the people of two oppositions. A person named Monwar Hossain was injured in the incident. Later, he recovered after receiving treatment in the hospital and also worked as a security guard in a private organization. Later, he died of cancer on February 3, 2018. As the situation changed after August 5 last year, his sister Jasmine Sultana alias Asma Akter filed a case showing him dead in the 2014 incident. Jasmine Sultana filed a case in the Dhamrai Amli Court against four policemen of the area, the owner of a brick kiln and 52 wealthy people, claiming that her brother was murdered. She also named her ex-husband Awlad Hossain as an accused in the same case (case no. 615/24). On the orders of the court, the Dhamrai police registered the case on October 21 last year.
The plaintiff in the case, Jasmine Sultana, told The Kaler Kantho that her brother died on November 3, 2014 at Suhrawardy Hospital. Many names have been omitted from this case, but they will also be made accused again.
However, Monwar Hossain's wife Lipi Begum told The Kaler Kantho, "After my husband Monwar Hossain recovered, he worked as a security guard at the Munnu Ceramic Factory in Islampur of Dhamrai for a few years."
Monwar Hossain's son Hafez Rabiul Islam told The Kaler Kantho, "My father died of cancer on February 3, 2018. I myself conducted his father's funeral."
Abdul Jalil, a member of Ward No. 4 of the local Union Parishad, also said the same thing. DGM of Munnu Ceramic Factory Kazi Hossain Suhrawardy said, "According to the information from the factory's head office, Monwar Hossain withdrew 11 days' salary in December 2017. He has not worked there since then."
Awlad Hossain, the accused in the case, told The Kaler Kantho, "I divorced Jasmine in 2011 over land-related issues. After that, there were many back-and-forth cases related to land. To take revenge, she has accused seven relatives including me in the murder case."
A police constable, an accused in the case, told The Kaler Kantho that he is being sent information through various channels that his name will be withdrawn from the case if he pays lakhs of Taka. He said, ‘I am innocent, that is why I did not pay any money. Let’s see what comes out of the investigation of the case.’
In this regard, the investigation officer of the case, sub-inspector Naibul Islam of Dhamrai Police Station, told The Kaler Kantho, “The case is being investigated seriously. An application has been made to the court for a DNA test to find out when Monwar died after exhuming his body.”
Dhamrai Police Station OC Monirul Islam said, “I have heard that a syndicate is demanding a large sum of money from some of those accused in the case.’
On the other hand, in the Ashulia incident, it has been known that a woman named Kulsum Akter and her husband Alamin Mia used to live as the tenant in the house of Md. Ruhul Amin in the Jamgara Dargarpar area of Ashulia. After August 5, the owner of the house, Ruhul Amin, and his son Md. Kawsar, asked the tenant, Kulsum Akter, to file a case. The complaint in the case was that her husband Alamin was killed during the students’ movement. According to Kulsum, the landlord, Ruhul Amin, threatened her with a gun, and so she was forced to file a case. Later, Ruhul Amin, his son Kawsar, Shariful Islam Sharif from Shibaloy and Salam from Ashulia, along with two or three unidentified person, wrote a statement and forced Kulsum to sign it. The statement of the case stated that Kulsum's husband Alamin was shot dead by miscreants during the anti-discrimination student movement on August 5. A case was filed in court naming 130 people as accused. The case was registered at Ashulia Police Station on November 8.
The investigation officer of the case, sub-inspector Md. Rakibul Hossain of Ashulia Police Station, told The Kaler Kantho, "While investigating the case, we found that Kulsum's husband was not killed. Rather, the case was fabricated. That is why we have given the final report in this case. A case has been filed at the police station against those involved in this fabricated case. Ruhul Amin and Safiuddin have been arrested in that case."
According to the information, Md. Sajeeb Mir filed an extortion case at the Ashulia Police Station accusing Kulsum, Ruhul Amin and six others. His father Milan Mir was the accused in the fake case.
In the complaint of the case, Sajeeb mentioned that he contacted Ruhul Amin to remove his father's name from the case. Ruhul Amin said that if he paid Tk two lakh, each accused would be removed from the case. Convinced by his words, Ruhul Amin was given Tk 17 lakh in two installments to remove the names of 10 accused. Ruhul Amin also kept pressuring him to pay the remaining Tk of 3 lakh.
Sub-inspector of Ashulia Police Station Rakibul Hossain told The Kaler Kantho, “Efforts are underway to arrest other accused in the case.”
Gaus Uddin, son of Mubarak Ali of Ghoshgaon, died after being shot in Golapganj of Sylhet on August 4. Gaus Uddin’s nephew Rezaul Karim filed a case with the police station on August 23. When Rezaul knew through Facebook that he was the plaintiff in the case, he denied filing the case and said that the case was filed with the police station by forging his signature.
When asked about this, Golapganj Police Station OC Moniruzzaman Mollah told The Kaler Kantho over the phone, “No one has complained to us about whether the plaintiff’s signature is forged or not. 134 people have been accused in the case. Meanwhile, we are also getting information that the ‘case is being traded’. However, we are investigating the case seriously. The family of the deceased has the right to get justice. I have told the accused that no innocent person will be arrested. I have also asked them not to contact anyone to clear their names. However, there is a class of opportunists. And the plaintiff in the case has not made any complaint to us that his signature was a fake one."
Courtesy: The Kaler Kantho
(Kaler Kantho's Dhamrai Correspondent Abu Hasan provided information in preparing the report)
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
