Dr Shahadat alleges embezzlement of Tk 7.5 lakh and Tk 1.2 crore shop advance from Garib Ullah Shah shrine

Awami League leaders and activists are running propaganda on Facebook against the present committee of the shrine of Khwaja Garib Ullah Shah (Rh) only to hide their own misdeeds, alleged Dr Shahadat Hossain, administrator of Chattogram City Corporation.

He said officials of the previous shrine committee embezzled Tk 7.5 lakh in two instalments from the bank account, Tk 1.2 crore as advance for shops, 68 dekchi (large cooking pots), several air conditioners, and various equipment, and cut down several large trees in the shrine courtyard.

He alleged that, to hide the information about the looting, the previous committee itself removed all the accounts and papers. People of the Awami League looted across the country in the name of mega projects, he said, adding that even the shrine was not spared.

He made these remarks on Sunday (8 November) at noon, while answering journalists' questions after visiting the shrine to look into the allegation of dekchi theft at the shrine of Khwaja Garib Ullah Shah (Rh), raised on the social media platform Facebook, and counting the various items of the shrine and the orphanage.

The allegation of dekchi theft at the shrine has been discussed on social media for several days. Various Facebook pages supporting the banned Awami League blamed Chattogram City Corporation administrator Shahadat Hossain and his followers for the incident.

In this context, CCC administrator Shahadat Hossain visited the Garib Ullah Shah shrine. He blamed Awami League leaders and activists for the disappearance of the dekchi.

He also looked into the allegation about the shrine's dekchi. According to a list signed on 25 June this year by Shakhawat Hossain, inspector of the Waqf Estate, a total of 32 dekchi — 20 large and 12 small — had been handed over to the present committee.

The administrator himself counted at the shrine and found that all 32 of those dekchi are still there, intact.

He said the shrine's assets had been embezzled in various ways during the Awami League government. There is no scope for such looting under the present government, he said.

He further claimed that Abu Taher, the mutawalli who took charge of the shrine during the interim government, was also a man of the Awami League.

He said the Bangladesh Waqf Administrator's office, suspending the activities of mutawalli Abu Taher appointed by the previous committee, approved a five-member advisory committee and a 13-member management committee for three years on 13 June this year. In that committee, he took charge as president ex officio as the CCC administrator.

He said the mutawalli appointed by the previous committee did not hand over charge to the present committee. For that reason, the present committee took charge together with officials of the Chattogram Waqf Estate. At the time of taking charge, on 25 June, an inventory was prepared of the 20 large and 12 small dekchi and various other items kept at the shrine, and that inventory also bears the signature of Waqf Estate inspector Shakhawat Hossain.