ACC arrests 19 cops for forging FF certificates

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday arrested 19 police constables in Pabna on charges of forging freedom fighter certificates to get the job.

All of them, of Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj district, were appointed to the police department between 2012 and 2014 under the freedom fighter quota.

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A case was filed in November 2014 against them with Sirajganj Police Station.

The accused -- Aiyub Ali, Kamrul Islam, Abdul Kuddus Sheikh, Ali Abbas, Mohammed Ali, Sabuz Miah, Abu Hanif, Saiful Islam, Md Fardous, Saiful Islam, Hyder Ali, Budhhi Miah, Sumon Kumar Sarkar, Shahidul Islam, Abdul Awal, Amirul Islam, Al Amin, Sohel Rana, and Sumon Ahmed -- were working for Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

They came to Pabna ACC office yesterday in compliance with an ACC notice but failed to show original freedom fighter certificates. They were then arrested there, said Abu Bakar Siddique, deputy director of the ACC.

On receiving the allegation against them, the DMP had suspended them, Sirajganj Superintendent of Police Miraz Uddin Ahmed told our Pabna Correspondent.

Meanwhile, the ACC arrested former Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) official in Pabna Tajunnahar for misappropriating Tk 79.7 lakh in collaboration with two others.

Tajunnahar, of Mohimganj village in Gaibandha district, is a former sociologist of the LGED, Pabna office.

She along with her two colleagues embezzled the money through 32 forged cheques between 2010 and 2012, according to a case filed against her.

The ACC also arrested former district accounts officer of Brahmanbaria Mokhlesur Rahman and former SAS superintendent of the office Billal Hossain Patwari in a case filed with Brahmanbaria Model Police Station in October last year.

According to the case statement, they in collaboration with 20 others embezzled Tk 16.06 crore of pensioners' money from state-run Sonali Bank with the help of bank officials.

The anti-graft body arrested two persons -- Abdul Kader Mia and Shukur Mahmud -- of Induti Konabari of Tangail, for taking away ownership of 450 decimal land of one Makhan Lal Ghosh through frauds.

A case was filed in this regard against six people, including the arrestees, with Kalihati Police Station.

Another ACC team arrested former union social worker Ansar Uddin in Mymensingh for misappropriating Tk 7.29 lakh by forging the signature of Netrokona's Purbadhala social welfare officer Abdul Samad Mia.

Ansar used to work in the social welfare office in Netrokona.