RSRM’s MD detained in late Gulshan raid

The Rapid Action Battalion late on Wednesday night detained Maksudur Rahman, the managing director (MD) of RSRM, one of the top defaulters of the country, from the capital's Gulshan area.

Earlier, RAB Legal and Media Wing Senior Assistant Director (ASP) ANM Imran Khan said they had begun a raid late at night to detain Maksudur.

Law enforcers did not disclose why the MD was detained but said it would be disclosed in a briefing on Thursday.

According to the Ratanpur Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd (RSRM) website, Maksudur Rahman, born in 1950, is the founder of Ratanpur Group, a concern of which is RSRM. He started the business in 1972, establishing the RSRM.

In January this year, Sonali Bank auctioned a factory and 100 decimals of land owned by RSRM in Bayazid of Chattogram to recover defaulted loans.

According to an auction announcement, RSRM – a leading steel company in Chattogram – owed over Tk201 crore to Sonali Bank.

Bank officials said the company had taken out loans with the factory and land in Bayazid as collateral.

Founded in 1984, Ratanpur Group with around 800 workers at its production unit had an annual turnover of around Tk700 crore but due to outstanding electricity bills to the tune of Tk40 crore, two of its factories were shuttered for a whole year.

The group was said to owe Tk2,200 crore in total to 10 banks and financial institutions at the time. Around 20 cases were filed against the group's high officials for the recovery of the dues and arrest warrants issued in the Sonali Bank case. Besides Sonali Bank, RSRM owed the Laldighi Branch of Janata Bank the largest amount at Tk1,200 crore.

RSRM MD Maksudur Rahman, Chairman Shamsun Nahar Rahman, the managing director's two sons, Mizanur Rahman and Marjanur Rahman, his brother, Yunus Bhaiya, and Chairman of Modern Steel Mills Limited, Md Alauddin, were named as defendants in the case filed by the banks.