Land Business

Couple held on charges of cheating 100 people

1 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the Uttarkhan police arrested a couple in a joint raid on a house in the city yesterday on charges of cheating about 100 people out of money in the name of land business. Rokeya Begum, 50, and her husband Borhan Uddin, 56, were arrested from the house at Central Road in the early morning in connection with a cheating case. One Belayet Hossain Bhuiyan filed the case accusing the couple of cheating him out of Tk 15 lakh. There are also around 100 general diaries filed against the couple with Uttarkhan Police Station and the Rab office, law enforcers said. Soon after their arrest, around 100 people who fell victim to cheating rushed to the Uttarkhan Police Station and demanded punishment to the couple. Rab and police officials said the couple has been engaged in land grabbing and they have become owners of around 2,000 bighas of land through cheating and other illegal means. Sub-Inspector Shahjahan Miah, who is the investigation officer of the cheating case, said Belayet Hossain stated that he bought a piece of land from Rokeya Begum at Tk 15 lakh, but she again sold it to a third party. However, family members of the couple claimed that two army majors influenced the Rab and police personnel to arrest Rokeya and her husband. At a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the afternoon, Maksudur Rahman Shaheen, a cousin of Rokeya, alleged that the two majors had been pressing Rokeya to have a 10-katha land registered in their names. As she did not comply, the law enforcers arrested the couple, he added. Refuting the allegations, Rab's legal and media wing Director Commander Mohammad Sohail said that apart from a specific case, around 50 people have filed complaints against the couple with the Rab. Rab and police officials also said that the victims did not dare to protest the illegal activities of the couple, fearing attacks by the hired cadres of the couple.