Man behind proposed 81-foot Ram idol in Gaibandha shown arrested in flat fraud case, denied bail

A Dhaka court today (1 September) ordered Haridas Chandra Tarani Das, the man behind a proposed 81-foot Ram idol in Gaibandha, to be shown arrested in a separate flat-fraud case involving Tk75.86 lakh and rejected his bail petition.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Zakir Hossain passed the order following an application by the investigation officer.

Haridas, who has been in jail since July in a separate money-laundering case, was produced before the court as Uttara West Police Station Sub-Inspector Masud Rana sought an order to show him arrested in the flat-fraud case, said Dhaka Metropolitan Prosecution Division SI Helal Uddin.

Later, at another court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam, Haridas's lawyer Basudeb Guha sought bail for him. The court rejected the plea after hearing both sides.

On 11 July, the CID's Financial Crime Unit filed the money-laundering case against Haridas with Uttara West Police Station, accusing him of laundering Tk9.35 crore. The case alleges that Haridas used his business activities as a cover for hundi operations and the laundering of domestic and foreign currencies.

DB police arrested him in Gaibandha around 12:30am that day, and a court sent him to jail on 16 July after a four-day remand. He has remained in jail since then.

The flat-fraud case in which Haridas was shown arrested today was filed on 24 August by private company official Mahbubur Rahman against Haridas and Obaidul Islam, whom Haridas allegedly described as the business associate of Haridas.

According to the case statement, Mahbubur and Obaidul were college friends and lived in Sector 12 of Uttara. Obaidul allegedly told Mahbubur that he owned Anoy Developers and had an office in Nikunja.

Mahbubur expressed interest in buying a flat in the Nikunja area. He allegedly paid Obaidul Tk10.85 lakh between 25 July 2018 and 21 January 2021. When Obaidul later said another Tk15 lakh was needed as construction was nearing completion, Mahbubur allegedly paid that amount as well.

The case statement also mentioned that Obaidul subsequently kept delaying the handover of the flat despite Mahbubur asking for his money back.

When Mahbubur went to Obaidul's office in Nikunja, Obaidul allegedly told him that his business partner Haridas was coming. Haridas then allegedly told Mahbubur that he did not have money but could give him a flat instead.

Trusting Haridas, Mahbubur allegedly paid him another Tk45 lakh between 28 July and 25 September 2024.

The case statement also says Mahbubur paid a total of Tk70.85 lakh to Obaidul and Haridas, but the flat was not handed over to him.

In recent months, construction of the Ram idol began at the Radha Gobinda and Kali Temple in Gaibandha's Palashbari Upazila. Temple authorities claimed it would be the "largest Ram idol in Asia."

The temple committee, however, suspended the construction on 9 June after the Imam-Ulama Parishad questioned the source of the funding and staged protests.