The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mamunur Rashid

A fake woman Pir,'Guru Maa' and three of her male associates were arrested by Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from Ananda Mohan Bashak Lane in Tantibazaar and Shantinagar areas in the city respectively.

Acting on information provided by a Bangladeshi expatriate in Germany, a team of RAB-3 raided the Madras Herbal at Tantibazar and arrested Mariam Begum Ruby, 35, known as 'Guru Maa' and her associates Mustafizur Rahman and Sabuj on Monday.

RAB-3 yesterday in a drive in Shantinagar area arrested the leader of the gang of fake Pir Anwar Chowdhury alias Jibon. RAB source said, Jibon, a film producer, was involved with the group of fake Pir that had been cheating many people of huge amount of money and sexually harassing women for a long time. Jibon was the president of Dinajpur Jatiya Party Unit.

The 37-year old Jibon has so far produced a number of feature films, including 'Guru Dev,' 'Paaper Santan' and 'Rajniti,' which were screened in movie halls.

The Pir, Guru Maa, claimed proficiency in contacting with 'Jin' and helped cure many people suffering from incurable diseases and sex related frustrations by giving them blessed water and miracle stones.

She was said to have been skillful in saving broken marriages, finding partners for lovers, winning lottery prizes, giving child-bearing ability to barren women, ensuring promotion in jobs and had power over getting US 'green card' for the supplicants.

RAB said the German expatriate informed that he was cheated of huge amount of money with the promise of winning a hefty lottery prize in Germany.

A licensed pistol and some materials used to cheat people were seized from the arrested persons. A case was filed with Kotwali Police Station in this connection.