Jubo Dal leader arrested in Ghoraghat over Tk 60 lakh fraud and Tk 10 lakh extortion allegations

Police in Ghoraghat, Dinajpur, have arrested a Jubo Dal leader, Ujjal Mia (41), on allegations of embezzling Tk 60 lakh through fraud. He was arrested from the Ghoraghat municipal town at around 2 a.m. on Monday night.

Ujjal Mia is the son of the late Yunus Ali of Osmanpur Chhoyghatti village in Ghoraghat upazila. He is a joint convener of the Ghoraghat upazila unit of Jubo Dal.

A man named Rifat Kabir (23) filed a case against him at Ghoraghat Police Station on charges of fraud, extortion demands, death threats and vandalising a motorcycle. He was shown arrested in that case and sent to jail through the court on Tuesday afternoon, said Ghoraghat Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mahmud Hasan.

According to the case statement and complainant Rifat Kabir, in February Rifat sold his 57 decimals of land in Sagarpur mouza of the upazila to Ujjal Mia for Tk 22.80 lakh. Ujjal paid Tk 10 lakh in cash at the time, but began delaying payment of the remaining Tk 12.80 lakh.

Later, promising to supply 50 cows for Rifat's cattle farm, Ujjal took Tk 30 lakh in advance through bank accounts between March 8 and May 2 this year, along with another Tk 18 lakh as a loan — Tk 60 lakh in total. When he failed to deliver the cows and Rifat asked for his money back, Ujjal cut off all contact.

On the morning of June 8, a local arbitration was held in the presence of local people. At the arbitration Ujjal paid Tk 7 lakh and pledged to pay the rest, signing on stamp paper a land baynanama, a cow purchase baynanama and a written acknowledgment of liability.

Afterwards, however, Ujjal kept stalling with various excuses instead of paying. At one stage Tk 10 lakh was demanded from Rifat as extortion money, and he was threatened with being killed or maimed if he did not pay, according to the case statement. Fearing for his life, Rifat also paid Tk 5 lakh in extortion money, the statement says.

The statement further says that on the same day at around 12:30 p.m., as Rifat was leaving Humayun Rice Mill on his motorcycle, he was waylaid, beaten with sticks and his motorcycle was vandalised, causing about Tk 20,000 in damage. He was also allegedly threatened with death, along with his family members, and with damage to his business.

Rifat Kabir says he was defrauded of the money given for the land and through the bank, and that he is living in insecurity following the extortion, the motorcycle vandalism and the death threats.

AKM Masudul Islam, convener of the Dinajpur district unit of Jubo Dal, said: 'If anyone commits a crime using a party identity, they must face punishment. But we will look into the matter. If the allegations against Ujjal Mia are found to be true, organisational action will be taken against him.'

Ghoraghat OC Mahmud Hasan said: 'Ujjal Mia has been sent to jail in the fraud case.'