The student leader-turned-politician whose name is closely linked with several crimes had been evading arrest since the joint forces launched a countrywide hunt for top corrupt people and criminals last month.

The former president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of BNP, captured a room at the MP Hostel immediately after winning the 2001 parliamentary elections from Lalbagh-Kamrangirchar constituency although no room had yet been allotted there to him.

During his stint as a member of parliament, Pintu allegedly exerted political influence to grab public land, manipulated tenders, patronised local extortionists and criminal groups, and tortured workers of rival political parties as well as rival factions in BNP.

He was arrested once during the 1996-2001 Awami League (AL) rule and even once during the immediate past BNP-led coalition government's rule. However, Pintu could not be awarded punishment due to government intervention.

The BNP government withdrew three cases against Pintu filed for snatching bidding documents at gunpoint, injuring a number of AL men and police, and for explosion of cocktails and bomb in his house.

Pintu saw quite a rise in fortune in the last five years and three months with his income, land property and shares in different companies growing manifold.

Pintu's statement shows that his annual income shot up 104 times from Tk 3 lakh to Tk 3.13 crore while his land property expanded from 1.31 katha to 176 katha during the period.

HIS SURRENDER
Pintu surrendered to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka at 10:00am yesterday although the hearing of the two cases was scheduled for 12:30pm.

A few of his cadres accompanied him to the court.

His lawyers--advocate Sanaullah Mia and Masud Ahmed Talukder--took him to the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Shafiq Anwar at 12:45pm where his cases were scheduled to be heard.

Kabir Hossain, a BNP worker of Baragram in Kamrangirchar, filed the attempted murder case with the chief metropolitan magistrate's court on January 25 after local police refused to record his complaint.

Shahidul Islam, another resident of Munshihati in Kamrangirchar, filed a theft case against Pintu on February 13.

Pintu and his lawyers submitted that the charges against him are false and sought bail while the prosecution prayed for sending him to jail.

Hearing both the sides, the court ordered to send Pintu to Dhaka Central Jail.

On June 26 last year, Pintu called BNP worker Kabir out of his house and beat up mercilessly with hockey stick for "tarnishing" his image. The former lawmaker dumped Kabir--with fractured hands and injuries to the head--in a nearby dustbin.

Kabir went to Hazaribagh Police Station to lodge a complaint against Pintu, but the police refused to take the complaint.

Later, acting on a court order, the Hazaribagh police investigated the incident and found the former BNP lawmaker guilty.

On February 13, Pintu and three others went to Shahidul's house around 12:30am and demanded why he got Faruque Member, a supporter of Pintu, arrested with a firearm. As Shahidul protested the allegation, the four beat him up and took away from him a gold chain, a mobile phone and Tk 4,700 in cash.

"While leaving, Pintu threatened me with life if I disclosed the incident to anyone," Shahidul said in his complaint.

PREVIOUS GOVT HIS PROTECTOR
Playing his authority over almost all local institutions, Pintu also forced students of schools and colleges in his constituency to join BNP meetings and processions.

He attempted to build a road through the Azimpur graveyard at the end of the immediate past BNP-led four-party coalition government's tenure.

The government in March 2004 decided to withdraw a criminal case filed against Pintu for explosion of some cocktails and bombs in the yard of his Maneswar Road house in Lalbagh on October 4, 1997. The incident left eight people seriously injured. Pintu took the injured to Islamia Pharmacy and Babli Medicine Store for treatment. Later, one of them succumbed to his injuries.

Earlier on June 26, 2003, the court framed charges against Pintu and issued arrest warrant against him.

In March 2005, the then government withdrew a case against Pintu filed for snatching bidding documents for auction of a bankrupt company's property at gunpoint.

Pintu was arrested on December 26, 2001 for the charge and was later given a 30-day detention.

In April 2005, the government withdrew another case against Pintu filed for assaulting and injuring police and AL members with a procession in Lalbagh on April 15, 1998.

The police arrested Pintu along with 12 others from the spot and filed the case against them, but he received bail from the court.