Land Grabbing Case: Ragib Ali sent to jail

Photo: Star

Industrialist Ragib Ali was sent to jail yesterday in two cases filed for forging legal papers and grabbing the endowed land of Tarapur Tea Estate in Sylhet.

After being arrested by the Karimganj district immigration police of India yesterday morning, the fugitive was handed over to Sylhet police around 2:30pm, said Sugyan Chakma, additional superintendent of Sylhet police.

In the evening, he was produced before Sylhet Additional Metropolitan Magistrate's Court. After the hearing, the court rejected his bail petition and sent Ragib to jail, said Misbah Uddin Siraj, public prosecutor of Sylhet court.

Sugyan said Ragib's visa to stay in India expired on 10 November and yesterday he went to Karimganj immigration police office for his visa extension. The immigration police held him there and handed him over to Sylhet police.

Ragib, prime accused in the cases, along with his son Abdul Hai fled to India on August 10 after Sylhet Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court issued arrest warrants for Ragib and five others, including his son, in two cases filed in connection with grabbing the land of Tarapur Tea Estate, which is an endowment property.

Hai was arrested by Zakiganj immigration police on October 10 while trying to enter Bangladesh. The same court sent him to jail, rejecting his bail plea.

The Tarapur Tea Estate is an endowment property from 1915.

In 1990, Ragib started grabbing the land of the estate after forcing its legal Shebayet (caretaker) Pankaj Kumar Gupta to leave the country, Pankaj had alleged earlier.

After grabbing 422.96 acres of the estate, Ragib built Ragib-Rabea Medical College Hospital and also sold 337 plots and established some other structures on the land.

In 2005, Sylhet Sadar upazila land commissioner filed the two cases against Ragib.

On January 19 this year, the Supreme Court ordered the district administration to recover the land of the estate from Ragib and hand it over to the caretaker within six months.

The court also stated that building structures in the tea estate is illegal. Later, the district administration recovered 323 acres of land and handed over it to the caretaker, Pankaj.

On July 10 this year, the Police Bureau of Investigation submitted a charge sheet against Ragib, his son Hai, daughter Rujina Kadir, son-in-law Abdul Kadir, relative Dewan Mostak Majid and caretaker Pankaj.

Sylhet Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on August 10 issued arrest warrants for all of the accused, and Pankaj surrendered to the court on August 17 and got bail.