Gazipur transport leader accused of extortion, land grabbing

A housewife of Gazipur and a group of transport owners, drivers have brought allegations of extortion, land grabbing and false cases against the Gazipur Transport Owners Workers Union President Sultan Uddin Sarkar.

He has been accused of extortion from small and big vehicles by his people in the name of admission, renewal fee and stand cost for driving vehicles on the road.

These complaints were made in a press conference organised at a restaurant in Gazipur city on Tuesday. However, Sultan Ahmed Sarkar has denied the allegations brought against him.

Nurunnahar Sathi, a housewife from Kashimpur area of Gazipur metropolis, read a written speech at the conference.

At that time, seven CNG owners and drivers, who were the plaintiffs in the cases and who gave depositions in the court, were present.

They presented various evidence including copies of cases filed against toll collection managers, linemen and serial men who work for Sultan, statements of defendants and victims in the court.

They also complained that three cases have been filed against the associates of the Sultan in connection with these extortion. Some of the accused in these cases gave statements in the Gazipur court under section 164 mentioning the name of Sultan Sarkar while some were arrested red-handed. Still, he remains elusive. On the contrary, those who protested, or refused to pay, were harassed with physical abuse and false cases, they alleged.

In the press conference, CNG driver Jamal Uddin of Ghazaria Para, Parvez of Rajendrapur and Golap Mia of Rudrapur area alleged that the workers in different identities like lineman, serial master, office assistant of Sultan Sarkar collect daily or monthly tolls from buses, trucks and CNG stands.

A one-time entry fee of Tk8,000-Tk10,000 is required to keep a new car at the stands, and a daily amount of Tk50-200 is required for serials. For bus, the entry fee is Tk40,000-50,000 and the amount of daily fee is Tk350-Tk750.

Sultan's men collect these fees in Chandana Chowrasta, Bhogra, Rajendrapur, Konabari flyover, Master Bari, Mirer Bazar, Bordbazar areas of the city. An amount of Tk750 per day from Taqwa Paribahan of Gazipur is collected.

In this way, the transport leader makes a fortune of 8/9 lakh taka every day.

Sathi also alleged that Sultan Sarkar and his associate Imtiaz Karim have filed about 27 cases against them in different police stations for occupying one acre and 80 decimal of their land in Kashimpur area of Gazipur metropolis.

After the cases, the police arrested the accused and produced them in the court, but for the last seven years no investigation report of these cases has been submitted to the court. As a result, in these false cases, they are on the run with warrants for 5/6 years and have been living an inhuman life without being able to work.

She also said that they have filed a written complaint to the Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner seeking justice in these matters. She demanded to investigate the cases and if they are found innocent, they should be exonerated quickly. She sought the attention of the home minister and the prime minister for justice.

Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Molla Nazrul Islam said that a family has filed a complaint of harassment for land grabbing and false cases.

Legal action will be taken against the accused if found guilty after investigating the complaint.

"It will be taken care to ensure that no one is unfairly harassed. Besides, the cases regarding extortion in transportation, statements of victims and witnesses in those cases have been taken by the magistrate".

In the written statement, Sathi said that in 1991, Shamsuddin Sarkar, the father of Sultan Sarkar, became the transport leader in Gazipur through Lutfar Rahman Khan Azad, the state minister of the BNP government. After the death of his father in 2013, Sultan became the president of the workers union and became the sole leader of the transport world of Gazipur. Imtiaz Karim Shuvo, a close associate of the Sultan in his various crimes, was a cohort of the late BNP leader Arafat Rahman Koko.