All the information about Mahmudul Hasan Alal, chairman of Birulia union in Savar, surfaced after he was detained and interrogated by the joint forces on Wednesday.

Alal now owns four palatial houses in Savar and Ashulia and one in the capital, 91 bighas of land in Savar and Ashulia, and 34 ponds. His residence at Birulia measures 6,000 square feet and is worth Tk 2 crore.

He also owns six luxurious cars including a Prado jeep worth Tk 35 lakh, a microbus worth Tk 15 lakh, a car worth Tk 10 lakh, two trucks and more than 20 auto-rickshaws.

Forest official Tanjilur Rahman of Baroipara forest bit in Savar filed a case against Alal for selling earth worth Tk 5 crore from land owned by the Forest Department. Another case is underway for keeping four deer in his residence illegally.

The joint forces seized four deer and several birds from Alal's residence yesterday.

A court yesterday remanded Alal for two days as Savar police prayed for five days' remand.

Earlier on Wednesday, the joint forces called all the 12 UP chairmen of Savar to the Savar army camp to learn about their work and check its transparency. Alal was arrested at the camp.

The joint forces questioned Alal until that noon before he was taken to his Birulia residence. The forces recovered Tk 8.5 lakh in cash from the house and arrested Alal's main associate Nabi Hossain.

Both were arrested under the Emergency Act and handed over to Savar police.

ALAL'S RISE
During interrogation Alal informed the joint forces that he undertook the work of filling earth and purchasing land in 2002 for Amin Mohammad Group housing project in Savar.

He denied all allegations against him. "I have purchased the houses and cars with the money I earned by selling 96 bighas of ancestral land property to Amin Mohammad Group. The deer were bought from the Gazipur Forest Department," he said.

Alal's father Shamsul Islam also said one of his sons has been living abroad for 25 years and the property was made with the money he has sent and by selling Shamsul's ancestral property.

But locals alleged that Alal earned several crores of taka by purchasing land at lower prices and filling earth for the housing project. Alal has earned Tk 60 crore since 2002 by only selling land owned by locals. They complained that the UP chairman used to threaten them to sell land.

Alal sold earth worth Tk 5 crore from forestland at Chhoto Kaliakoir, Khagan Choubaria and Dampara. He also kept the land pieces under his possession and dug 30 ponds.

He illegally occupied another five bighas of forest department land for six years and sold earth from there.

Alal owns 25 bighas of land in Akran, 60 bighas in Shyampur Kumarkhod, and six bighas in Narsinghapur in Ashulia, mostly registered under his name.

He owns two other houses on 10 decimals of land in Ashulia and Khagan. He has four ponds in Birulia and Akran.

When contacted, Saidur Rahman, engineer of Ashulia Model Town of Amin Mohammad Group, denied knowing anything about Alal's buying land from locals at lower price. "We bought land from Alal who worked as a contractor for us and we are not supposed to consider from whom or where the land was bought. We bought the land for cash payment."

WHO HE WAS
Alal was a regular BNP activist running a gang of criminals that conducted extortion and drug-dealing in the whole area. After the BNP-led four-party alliance assumed power, he contested in the UP chairman election in Birulia from BNP and won. He was also made the BNP organising secretary.

Soon Alal formed an armed gang named Alal Bahini with 25-30 criminals and Nabi Hossain as its command-in-chief.

Alal himself used to roam with a licensed firearm openly while his cadres also yielded illegal firearms. Alal had rivalry with several gangs in the area but none could challenge him as he was a ruling party UP chairman. No one even dared to file case against him.