Extortion spree grips Bangladesh after Aug. 5 as groups labeled ‘fascist collaborators’

Staff Correspondent

Since the Awami League government was overthrown through violence and riots on August 5, extortion has been rampant across the country. Various political and pressure groups close to the Yunus government, including the NCP, Jamaat-Shibir, BNP, and the People’s Rights Council, are demanding extortion by labeling people from different classes and professions as ‘fascist allies’ and threatening them with lawsuits and attacks.

Apart from political activists, people of various classes including government and private sector employees, businessmen, teachers are constantly being subjected to this kind of extortion. Even if the extortion is done openly, they are not getting any redress from the law. If they do not pay the extortion, the extortionists tag them as fascists and hand them over to the police. Mob terrorists hand them over to the police without paying the money they owe, and on the contrary, without asking for the extortion, they do not get it.

If these people held hostage by extortionists refuse to pay the ransom, they are being involved in murder cases or similar legal troubles. The number of such incidents has increased alarmingly since August 5 last year. Although human rights activists have condemned and issued statements about this, the Yunus government has not been able to take any visible action in these incidents. In most cases, the victims have instead faced administrative and police harassment and have been imprisoned and tortured.

One such harassment case has come to light against Abu Sadeq, the managing director of SS Group.

It is alleged that the debtor filed an extortion case against him for not paying a business debt of 60 million taka. The case statement refers to Sadek as a ‘friend of the fascist Awami League government’.

He was arrested at around midnight on February 2 from his home in Mohammadpur. The allegations were that he had tried to extort money and was a member of the ‘DB Harun Syndicate’. However, neither the state nor the investigating officer of the case could initially confirm the truth of any of the allegations. The court granted him bail within three days. The case was filed by businessman Zulfikar Mallick, who filed a complaint in a Dhaka court on January 25 of this year.

The case file claims that he was threatened with arrest at the DB office three times in 2023 and a ransom of Tk 6 crore was demanded.

However, a review of the DB office’s logbook shows that there is no entry record under the name ‘Zulfiqar Mallick’ on February 13 and 14. Similarly, no record of his entry was found in the logbook on the day of the alleged incident on February 21.

It is also learned that DB Chief Harun-ur-Rashid was not in his office that day; he attended a function at the Central Shaheed Minar. After verifying these information, it is initially believed that the case was filed to avoid paying the dues of Tk 6 crore.

On the night of May 19, some activists of the ‘Anti-Discrimination Student Movement’ surrounded the house of Golam Mostafa, chairman of Haqqani Publishers, a publishing house for books on the Liberation War. They called him a ‘friend of the fascist Awami League’ and created a mob and tried to attack and loot the house. Seeing the situation getting worse, they called 999 and the police came and brought the situation under control.

At that time, some of the people present had an argument with the police and some were taken into custody. Later, NCP leader Hannan Masood rescued the main ringleader of the extortion ring from the police station.

On the evening of September 28, another extortion case was filed at the ‘Safe Hospital’ over the incident of a newborn who had just died. Some people, posing as coordinators, demanded extortion from the hospital owner, Shilpi Akhter, and put pressure on him. When the situation escalated, he called the army. The army personnel went to the spot, arrested four people and took them to the police station. Later, Shilpi Akhter filed a case at the police station.

In this way, extortion is being openly carried out by creating fear by using the label of ‘friends of fascists’ in various places. NCP, Jamaat-Shibir, BNP, Ganadhikar Parishad and various political and pressure groups close to the Yunus government are holding various professionals hostage and extorting them everywhere from villages to cities across the country. But the main instigators of these incidents remain undetected.