Fake deed used to grab Tk 23.68cr govt land in Ctg

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against seven members of a family and a Public Works Department (PWD) engineer over alleged illegal occupation of government land worth Tk 23.68 crore in Chattogram’s Agrabad.

The 24.96-decimal property, owned by the Health Ministry, is valued at Tk 17.12 crore. The ACC also found Tk 6.55 crore in unpaid rent for the building on the land.

According to the ACC case, the family allegedly used a fake deed to claim ownership of the government property and later obtained mutation in the name of 90-year-old Fatema Begum. The property was subsequently transferred to four of her children through a heba deed in 2020.

The ACC also accused Mohammad Shah-Alam Faruk, then a PWD sub-divisional engineer, of certifying documents and submitting an investigation report that helped establish the family’s ownership claim.

The ACC alleged that the family had initially leased the property but failed to renew the lease after 2011. They later continued occupying the property and operated businesses, a medical centre and a convention hall there, while parts of the building were rented out.

The case was filed on Wednesday by ACC Assistant Director Sabuj Hossain under several sections of the Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

-AJM