Taking ‘Advantage’ of Pandemic: Land grabbers feasting on unguarded plots
With people mostly staying home to avoid coronavirus infection, land grabbers are using this opportunity to take over unguarded and empty plots of land in the capital's Khilgaon.
In the last three months, criminals aided by a former Chhatra League leader and a sacked police constable, have taken control of at least a dozen plots in Nandipara area by building boundary walls and put up signboards.
Moshiur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station, under which Nandipara falls, allegedly provided shelter to the criminals, according to landowners and locals.
When the plot owners tried to recover their property, the criminals demanded a handsome amount of money.
It all came to light after Prof Humayun Kabir, principal of Dhaka Dental College, on behalf of the plot owners, submitted a prayer on June 24 to the deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Motijheel Division) seeking legal support.
Following the complaint, police started investigating the incident.
Prof Humayun then filed a case with Khilgaon Police Station on July 1 and police arrested prime accused Masud Ahmed alias Mukul and his partner-in-crime Ziaur Rahman Pintu alias Pistol Pintu the next day.
"Due to Covid-19 outbreak, a number of plots remain unguarded as people are not able to take care of their property by going out regularly. Land grabbers are using this scope to take control of the plots and build boundary walls," Jamil Hasan, DC of Motijheel Division police, told The Daily Star recently.
He said police are already taking action against these grabbers -- having arrested the prime accused and his partner and now conducting drives to arrest their other associates.
Police have information that criminals in some other parts of Khilgaon are still active in land grabbing, the official added.
Regarding alleged police backing of the land grabbers, DC Jamil Hasan categorically said, "We are investigating it and we will take action against all found guilty."
According to police sources, Pintu was a secretary of Khilgaon Police Station unit Chhatra League five years ago. Using this identity, he joined hands with local criminal Mukul and one of their major schemes was collecting illegal tolls and land grabbing.
The police database shows Pintu was accused in the charge sheets of two cases -- over extortion and grabbing -- filed in 2016.
A suspended police constable Harun-Or-Rashid of the same station joined their syndicate -- his job was to take care of the legal side, according to sources.
Rashid is now on the run and the police are looking for him.
Talking with The Daily Star, Prof Humayun said he bought a plot 16 years ago and was not able to build a house there then as the land used to go under water in the rainy season.
In the last couple of years, the situation started changing and he was able to fill his plot with sand and develop it, he said.
"We could not come out of our home and visit my land for a couple of months after the shutdown began for Covid-19 in March. Suddenly, on May 30, I heard that someone had put up a boundary wall and signboard on my land."
Prof Humayun said he then went to visit the land but some youths stopped him from entering.
"Soon after the incident, I submitted three complaints to Khilgaon Police Station but they did not take any action and also did not register any cases for some mysterious reason," he claimed.
Later, he filed the complaint with the DC Motijheel.
During a visit to the Khilgaon area on July 4, this correspondent found someone building new boundary walls around seven to eight separate plots. A temporary tin-shed room was found built on Prof Humayun's plot, in which, locals claim, the criminals used to sit and drink together.
Jahid Hossain Majumder, a banker by profession, said he bought 3.75 decimals of land in 1997 and on May 30 he came to know that someone had put up a boundary wall and signboard on his plot.
Another plot owner, Abul Bashar, said the grabbers also built a boundary wall around his 2.75 decimal plot and demanded Tk 5 lakh to hand over the land.
Bashar said he also visited the police station for around two weeks continuously but failed to register any general diary regarding the issue.
Contacted, Moshiur Rahman, OC of Khilgaon Police Station, told The Daily Star that everyone knew about the matter including higher officials, so there was no scope for not registering the complaint.
"There has been no negligence of the police. We registered the case and are investigating it and taking action. We do not know who owns the land and the court will look into it, but the claim against police is totally false and baseless," added the OC.
Shish Al Labib, supervisor of HTS Petrol Pump of Khilgaon, which is owned by Mukul, said he has no idea about the incident and failed to give any details of Mukul's family members.
Nobody could say anything about Pintu's family either.
On July 4, the plot owners held a human chain in front of Mukul's petrol pump demanding action against the land grabbers and that their land be freed.