The New Nation - Internet Edition

Chittagong Correspondent

Police yesterday charge-sheeted 22 leaders and workers of the anti-liberation force Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) here at an extortion case.

Former Jamaat-e-Islami legislator from Satkania Shajahan Chowdhury and the Amir of the Satkania unit of the Jamaat-e-Islami Dr. Nurul Haque are also among the charge-sheeted people.

Officer-in-Charge of Satkania police station accompanied by some of his subordinates went to the court of the District Judicial Magistrate (DJM) yesterday morning and submitted the charge sheet.

The DJM court forwarded the case to the District and Sessions Judge Court in Chittagong after taking the charges into cognizance.

Police officials said that they received formal complaints of extortion against 40 leaders and workers of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student from Islami Chhatra Shibir from a trader - Abdur Rahim - on March 24, 2007.

The complainant in the first information report (FIR) said that directed by local legislator Shajahan Chowdhury some 45 or 50 armed cadres of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) forcibly stopped his sand procurement work on February 15, 2004 upon a demand of Taka 300 thousand as toll.

The cadres assaulted him physically as he denied paying the toll. The attackers also took away Taka 10 thousand in cash after injuring him there.

Earlier, sand trader Abdur Rahim took 255 hectares of land on the Dulu River as lease for procuring sand.

Later, the oppressed sand trader tried seeking justice from the Jamaat-e-Islami's local legislator Shajahan Chowdhury and the Amir of the local unit of the party. None of them paid any heed to his trouble but asked him to address the demand of the attackers.

The then officials of Satkania police also denied recording any case in connection with the oppression and extracting money. Finally, he recorded the complaint with the Upazila court.

Four of the charge-sheeted people - Shajahan Chowdhury and Nurul Haq, Abu Musa and Mohiuddin - are now in jail while the others are absconding.