Six councillors of Bera municipality land in jail

A court here yesterday sent six councillors of Bera municipality in the district to jail, rejecting their bail prayers in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for misappropriating state fund in 2015.

The accused are councillors Md Habibur Rahman Habi of Brishalikha village, Samsul Haque Khan of Shombhupur, Abu Daud Sheikh of Bonogram Uttarpara, Joynal Abedin, of Maitree Bandh, Abdur Razzak Sarkar of Mohonganj, and Md Shahid Ali of Sannalpara village. 

Special Judge Mohammad Abdul Kuddus passed the order when they surrendered before the court, said Public Prosecutor Abdur Rahim.

Mohammad Jalal Uddin, deputy assistant director of ACC in Pabna, filed the case with Bera Police Station on August 27 last year against 16 people, including Bera municipality Mayor Md Abdul Baten.

Bera municipality Mayor Baten, three other councilors and the other accused went into hiding as warrant order was issued against them, court sources said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shahidul Islam Talukdar, former executive engineer of Pabna Water Development Board (WDB), was sent to jail after his surrender before the court in the same case.

In 2015, the commission filed three separate cases against the mayor and 20 others for embezzling Tk 6.78 lakh from the state fund.

According to the case statement, Mayor Abdul Baten and his men leased Karamza Haat at C&B Bazar and embezzled the money instead of depositing it to the government fund.

The case statement also says that the accused have been occupying the haat since 2002 and did not even deposit the lease money.