Land surveyor entrapped

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday arrested a surveyor at Rupganj upazila land office in his office while he was taking bribe from a land owner.

The arrestee is Abdul Halim.

According to the case statement, a case was filed with Rupganj Land Office against the land owner, Saiful Islam, on August 8, 2016 in connection with a dispute over a piece of land that he bought from one Rafiqul.

Assistant Commissioner (land) of Rupganj assigned Halim to investigate the matter. But during inspection, Halim first realised Tk 10,000 from Saiful and later, blackmailed the land owner into agreeing to pay him Tk 1 lakh more in bribe by threatening to make a report that would be against him.

On September 14, Saiful gave him Tk 30,000 more but this time he informed ACC about the incident and set the surveyor up. Yesterday, he went to pay him Tk 60,000 more and took ACC officials along.

During yesterday's search, ACC also recovered Tk 2.1 lakh from Halim's cabinet in the office room. Halim could not describe the source of the money.