Sitakunda sub-registrar registers 65 land deeds in Yasin's name in one day before transfer; his transfer is suspended

Raihan Habib, the sub-registrar of Sitakunda in Chattogram, has registered 65 sale deeds of land of various sizes in the name of Md Yasin in a single day. The deeds were registered on Wednesday (October 28). Yasin is the chief of the Yasin gang in Alinagar and an accused in the case over the killing of an officer in Jungle Salimpur.

After the matter became known, Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Islam Mia verbally complained to the Law Ministry on Wednesday afternoon asking for an investigation and action against Habib. Following the complaint, the ministry suspended Habib's transfer order for seven days.

Last Monday, Raihan Habib was transferred together with 85 sub-registrars across the country. The transferred officers had been told to hand over charge at their current stations by Thursday and join their new stations.

Sitakunda Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fakhrul Islam has questioned Habib about the matter.

Sources at the sub-registrar's office and the district administration said the necessary papers for the 65 sale deeds of land in Yasin's name were submitted by Nazim Uddin, former general secretary of the Chattogram District Bar Association. Sub-registrar Raihan Habib then issued deeds selling the land to various individuals.

On registering so many deeds in one day, Raihan Habib said that according to papers of the Sitakunda land office, the land is recorded in Yasin's name and Yasin has also paid land tax. As the papers were in order, the deeds were registered, and he had informed his superior authority about the matter beforehand, he said. He added that no special instruction had been given regarding land in Jungle Salimpur.

DC Zahidul Islam Mia said they heard about the matter on Wednesday afternoon and then asked the ministry to investigate and take punitive action. The UNO summoned and questioned Habib; Habib said Yasin did not come to him himself and that the deeds were registered because the papers were brought to him, according to the DC.

The Jungle Salimpur and Alinagar area lies beside Chattogram city's Bayezid-Fouzdarhat link road, along a road running into the hills opposite the Asian University for Women. According to the district administration, there are 3,100 acres of government khas land there, and the area was long controlled by various land grabbers and armed groups; Alinagar was long under the control of Yasin and his gang.

District administration sources said land near the link road sells for Tk 9 to 10 lakh per decimal. On that basis, the area holds assets worth thousands of crores of taka; alongside government khas land, there is also some privately owned land there.

On March 9, for the first time, about 3,200 members of the army, RAB, police and BGB carried out a joint operation and took control of Jungle Salimpur. Earlier, police and administration officials had come under attack when they went on operations there. After the operation, the armed men went into hiding, and two separate outposts combining RAB and police were set up at SM Pilot High School and Alinagar High School in Jungle Salimpur.

Earlier, on January 19, a RAB team that went to Jungle Salimpur to arrest an accused came under attack. RAB-7 deputy assistant director Nayek Subedar Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan was beaten to death and three others were seriously injured. A case was filed at Sitakunda Police Station against Yasin and members of his gang over the incident, but police have still not been able to arrest him.