Teacher-turned-militant Monwar Hossain, who has been in jail since February, had no difficulty in getting his salary for the month of June as the acting headmaster of his school and a section of education officials approved his salary bill showing him present at the school.
It is alleged that acting headmaster of Jaldhaka Pilot Girls' High School Tofaelur Rahman prepared the salary bills of teachers and employees for the month of June, showing jailed Monwar Hossain present on all 24 working days.
District Education Officer (DEO) Enayet Hossain approved the bills without having the upazila education officer certifying the teachers' attendance report.
Monwar, an ehsar (full-time member) of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh and a senior teacher of the school, drew his salary for the month of June through a bearer cheque on August 4.
Rapid Action Battalion arrested Monwar at a remote char of the Teesta on February 20 this year. He was initially kept in Nilphamari jail and later shifted to Rangpur jail on June 11.
The JMB operative confessed to having training in firearms including sophisticated AK47 rifle.
Acting headmaster Tofaelur Rahman submitted the salary bills of the teachers and employees of the school to the DEO on August 2. The DEO forwarded it to the bank the same day although the teachers' attendance report was not certified by the upazila education officer.
Documents show that Jaldhaka Upazila Education Officer Azemul Haque certified the attendance report on August 3.
When contacted, Azemul told The Daily Star that he signed the report on verbal orders of the DEO.
While talking to The Daily Star, DEO Enayet Hossain held the acting headmaster responsible for any mistake in preparing the bills.
He, however, could not answer what prompted him to approve the salary bills without having the upazila education officer's certification.
The office of the school's headmaster was found closed during repeated visits on Sunday and Monday.
When contacted over the phone, acting headmaster Tofaelur Rahman denied outright his involvement in the whole process but failed to explain how all this happened.
Jaldhaka Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shahidul Islam Bhuiyan said this kind of activities would be dealt with seriously. "Primarily, we think that both the acting headmaster and the district education officer are responsible for the incident. I have sought explanation from the acting headmaster," he said.