‘Pay Tk 10 lakh or keep shops shut’
Seven shops of Ananda Bazar located in front of Dhaka University's Amar Ekushey Hall has remained shut since March 13, as two Chhatra League leaders allegedly ordered shop owners to close their shops.
The leaders later asked for Tk 10 lakh from the owners to reopen the shops.
This correspondent visited the spot early yesterday and spoke to the shop owners.
The morning is supposed to be a busy time for them, but instead, they said they aren't raising their shutters in fear of BCL leaders Enayet H Monon, president of Amar Ekushey Hall, and its general secretary Imdadul Hasan Shohagh.
The allegations come 46 days after BCL announced their new hall committees for DU.
According to the owners, on March 13 around 8:00pm, the BCL leaders stormed the market with some of their followers and ordered the owners to shut the market. At stage one, the group started threatening and misbehaving with the owners, leaving them with no option but to comply. There are around 330 shops at the market and allegations run rife that the BCL leaders collect extortion money from all of those. Besides the seven stores, all the others are open at present.
Later this Friday, the BCL leaders met some of the shop owners at the nearby hotel and asked them to pay Tk 10 lakh if they wanted to reopen the market.
Both the BCL leaders have denied the allegations.
"I don't know anything about it. It sounds like the allegations are part of a conspiracy against us," said Monon.
When this correspondent asked him why the owners could be conspiring against them, he asked this correspondent to investigate it himself.
Shohagh echoed him.
Asked, Saddam Hussain, general secretary of DU unit of BCL, said, "If someone does anything unethical using our organisation's name, we will take action against them as per our guidelines if the allegations turn out true."
Meanwhile, hall provost Dr Ishtiaque M Syed Told The Daily Star they have not received any official complaint in this regard.
Contacted, DU Proctor Prof AKM Golam Rabbani said, "We urge the victims to seek help from law enforcers if they have evidence."
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