Graft case: Sohel Rana jailed for 3yrs

A Dhaka Court today sentenced Sohel Rana, owner of the Rana Plaza, to three years simple imprisonment in a corruption case.

The court also fined him Tk 50,000, in default of which, he will have to suffer three months more in jail in the case filed for not submitting his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Judge Imrul Kayes of the Special Judge Court-6 handed down the verdict in presence of Sohel. This is for the first time Rana is jailed by a court in one of the six cases against him.

The ACC on May 21, 2015, lodged a case against Sohel Rana on charge of accumulating wealth illegally.

ACC Deputy Director Mahbubur Rahman filed the case with Ramna Police Station in the capital.

On April 2, 2015, the ACC sent a notice to Sohel Rana at Kashimpur jail in Gazipur asking him to submit his wealth statement to it within the stipulated time.

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Later, his wife submitted an application to the ACC seeking time extension to submit the wealth report, but on May 18 it gave approval for the case against Sohel Rana rejecting the plea.

The ACC formed a two-member probe body to know about the wealth of Sohel Rana after the Rana Plaza collapse on 24 April, 2013 that left 1,129 people killed and about 2,515 others injured.

According to the ACC probe report, he built two commercial buildings -- Rana Plaza and Rana Tower -- in Savar with ill-gotten money.

He also has a five-storey residential building in Savar and huge movable and immovable wealth.

Sohel Rana was arrested after the collapse on April 29, 2013.

On April 12 this year, the ACC also filed separate cases against his parents -- Morzina Begum and Abdul Khaleque -- on charge of amassing wealth worth around Tk 17 crore illegally.