In Sirajganj, a dead man was shown alive in a forged land deed; two jailed for four years

A court in Sirajganj has sentenced two men to four years' rigorous imprisonment each in a case over a forged land deed that showed a man who had died 20 years earlier as still alive. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Suman Kumar Karmakar delivered the verdict on 2 November.

The two convicts are the deed recipient, Md Borhan Uddin Talukdar, and the deed writer, Md Jewel Hossain. With the charge under section 467 of the Penal Code proved beyond doubt, each was sentenced to four years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Tk 200,000, with one more year of simple imprisonment in default. The deed witnesses, Md Rafiqul Islam and Md Lokman Hossain, were acquitted.

According to the case details, Kazi Abdul Barkat, also known as ABM Sad Uddin, a resident of Sirajganj, died in Dhaka on 2 June 1994. After his death, his wife Hasina Sad and their four sons inherited his 0.5400 acre (54 decimals) of property in Sirajganj.

On 25 June 2005 the heirs sold the property to Md Aslam Sekh, Md Abul Khayer Sekh, Md A. Salam and Md Anwarul Haque. The same year, those four sold the land to Mala Rani Malakar. She had the land mutated in her own name, paid land tax regularly, remained in possession, and on 16 July 2007 even took a loan by mortgaging the land to the Sirajganj branch of United Commercial Bank.

When Borhan Uddin suddenly claimed the land as his own, Mala Rani made enquiries at the Sirajganj Sadar sub-registry office. Checking a certified copy of the deed, she found a deed dated 3 July 2014 in which the dead Kazi Barkat was shown as the donor. She alleged that the accused, acting together, had presented the dead man as alive and forged his signature, causing her a financial loss of about Tk 15 million. She then filed the case.

Sub-Inspector Md Nurul Islam of Sirajganj Sadar police station investigated and, finding the allegations prima facie true, submitted his report on 25 October 2020. The report said Borhan Uddin had an unidentified person pose as the donor and, with two witnesses, had the deed registered through the deed writer in 2014. Although the rules of the time required the photographs and voter ID numbers of the donor and recipient, those were not mentioned in the deed.

Taking the investigation report into cognisance, the court framed charges against four accused on 21 August 2022. At trial, the prosecution produced and examined four witnesses in total. In their examination under section 342, the accused claimed innocence and said they would not give defence evidence.

During the trial, the original inheritance certificate issued by Dhaka City Corporation on 22 June 1994, a photocopy of the death certificate, and a photocopy of the burial receipt book from Azimpur graveyard were submitted to the court.

In the verdict, the court said the inheritance certificate, the Azimpur graveyard's certificate and burial receipt, and a photocopy of a newspaper dated 4 June 1994, among other documents, had conclusively proved that the alleged donor had died on 2 June 1994 itself. A man who had died a full 20 years earlier appearing alive at a sub-registry office to execute a deed in 2014 was unrealistic and legally entirely impossible, the verdict noted.

Assistant Public Prosecutors Md Kamal Parvez and Md Anisur Rahman appeared for the state, while advocate Mu. Shawkat Ali Selim represented the accused.