The Detective Branch (DB) of police has arrested three cheats in the city for taking Tk 24 lakh from the family of former caretaker government adviser Justice M Fazlul Huq in return for getting Huq acquitted of corruption charges.
Earlier, justice Fazlul Huq was accused of taking Tk 1.25 crore in bribe while he was in charge of the forest, land and law ministries. He was allegedly given Tk 80 lakh by a forest officer for his transfer to a better place and to stop the transfer of another forest officer.
Sources said arrested chief forest conservator Osman Gani disclosed these to the law enforcing agencies.
Besides, Justice Huq allegedly took Tk 45 lakh from Basundhara Group in exchange for helping it take lease of 84 acres of land.
The arrestees are Amalendu Das of Shamshernagar village under Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar, chairman of Amalendu Foundation for Research and Study and Spectrum Consultancy firm, sacked VAT inspector Golam Ambia and sacked police constable Mohammad Nuruzzaman alias Iqbal.
Golam Ambia of Tikapara in Rajshahi city was sacked as a VAT inspector in 1997 for corruption while Mohammad Nuruzzaman was sacked in 2003 during his deputation in the then Rapid Action Team (RAT). Nuruzzaman later joined Bangladesh Television (BTV) as an additional producer.
According to DB sources, Justice Fazlul Huq's son Dr Afzal Hossain Raj gave them the amount in several installments after they assured him of getting his charge-sheeted father acquitted of the ACC charges through armed forces members.
DB Assistant Commissioner (AC) Nasiruddin Khan told The Daily Star that Raj gave the money to Golam Ambia through his friends Abdul Gaffar Titu and Toufiq. Later, Golam introduced them to Amalendu and Iqbal.
"As a BTV journalist Iqbal collected secret documents from some officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission about Fazlul Huq's wealth information," AC Nasir said. "Intelligence agencies came to know about the deal when the family of Fazlul Huq kept demanding the money back since the ACC had already submitted the charge sheet," he said.
Sources said an intelligence agency picked up the three on Wednesday and handed over them to the DB personnel on Thursday.
Talking to The Daily Star at DB office, Golam Ambia said, "Amalendu and I are long-time friends. I handed over the amount to Amalendu." But Amalendu disagreed with Golam saying he took the money as a loan.
Following an ACC notice dated October 18, 2007, Justice Fazlul Huq submitted his wealth statement to the anti-graft body on November 27 last year.
Additional Commissioner of DB Mohammad Masudur Rahman said the family members of justice Fazlul Huq gave the money to the arrestees in return for getting Huq acquitted of corruption charges.
Ruhul Amin, sub-inspector of Dhanmondi Police Station, told The Daily Star at 00.45am today that a cheating case was filed against the three by Khandaker Toufiq Alam, an adviser of JSF, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which is run by justice Fazlul Huq and his son Raj.
In the case statement, Toufiq mentioned that the Fazlul Huq's family contacted with the three as they assured the family of Huq's acquittal on corruption charges in exchange for Tk 50 lakh. Of the amount, they took Tk 24 lakh, but did nothing, Toufiq said.