Hawk of streets running for councillor

He was accused of occupying footpaths and extorting traders. The Dhaka South City Corporation sued him over extortion nearly three years ago.

Traders allege that he still collects extortion money from them in the city’s Motijheel AGB Colony area. Nearly 100 hawkers pay him at least Tk 100 each every day.

The man in question is Saiful Islam Tarafdar. He now wants to be the councillor of ward-53 of the DSCC. The 52-year-old is going to contest the February 1 city polls. His posters have been put up in Jurain and Muradpur areas.

Ironically, Saiful in the posters claimed himself to be a friend of the poor people. He also vowed to root out extortion from the ward, if elected.

In his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, he concealed information about his cases. He said he was not facing any criminal cases.

But he is the prime accused in a case filed over extortion. Fifteen others were sued in the case filed by the DSCC with Motijheel Police Station in February 2017.

According to the case statement, hawkers occupied roads and footpaths and set up temporary shops there every day from 8:00am to 8:00pm, obstructing the movement of people.

“The accused have been collecting Tk 100 to Tk 400 as extortion money from each trader every day. Officials of Dhaka South City Corporation were assaulted by some extortionists while they were carrying out an eviction drive there. They are still issuing threats to the officials,” reads the case statement.

Contacted, Monir Hossain Molla, inspector (investigation) of Motijheel Police Station, said they submitted the charge sheet in the case. “The case is now under trial.”

Another case was filed against Saiful by Baser Molla, a hawker. The plaintiff complained that he was beaten up by Saiful and his men on March 3, 2017 for refusing to give them extortion money.

The case was later transferred to the Police Bureau of Investigation. The PBI has submitted the charge sheet in the case, now pending with a court.

On May 22, 2017, The Daily Star ran a report under the headline “Hawks of streets” on extortion by Saiful.

In February that year, DSCC Assistant Estate Officer Shamsul Alam had filed two more extortion cases against 66 people with Shahbag and Paltan police stations.

Meanwhile, a hawker of AGB Colony alleged that extortion by the councillor hopeful was still going on.

“He came here last week to collect money,” the hawker told this correspondent.

Saiful has a gang of men, backed by some ruling party men from Motijheel, said another hawker who became a victim of extortion.

SAIFUL DENIES ALLEGATIONS

Talking to this correspondent over the phone, Saiful said if elected, his first duty would be stopping collection of extortion money from the drivers of local battery-run auto-rickshaws.

“Several hundred auto-rickshaws ply the by-lanes in my area. Some ruling party men collect extortion money from the drivers daily.”

Asked about the cases against him, the councillor candidate said his political opponents had filed those and that those were “already dismissed by courts”.

He claimed that he mentioned the case information in his affidavit submitted to the EC.

Though Saiful mentioned service as his profession in the affidavit, he told this newspaper that he was a businessman and he owns a clothing shop in Motijheel.

DSCC Returning Officer Abdul Baten said nobody raised the issue of Saiful’s cases during the scrutiny of nomination papers.

“It’s not possible for us to check the information of all the candidates unless anyone raises an objection,” he added.