A local influential in Sreemangal has been accused of grabbing the land of a businessman in Chittagong.

At a press conference at Sreemangal press club at 11am on Tuesday, October 1, Md Selim Mia, a businessman from Pahartali, told reporters that Abidur Rahman Chowdhury Sohel, the proprietor of New Market in Sreemangal, had forcibly occupied the land he bought.

He said in his written statement that Abidur Rahman Chowdhury Sohel seized 86 percent of the land purchased by him by bringing people loaded with jeeps in the dead of night and attacking the watchman on his land.

“Selim Mia said,” In order to invest in the tourism sector from the beauty of Sreemangal to the beauty of Sreemangal, I bought a hundred and twenty-three percent land in the registry deed from Jasim Uddin Ganda – beside the road of Jannatul Ferdous Mosque in Mohajirabad Mouza – on November 29, 2023, which is Deed No- 7018/23.”  Before buying the land, I had a discussion with Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, a businessman of Sreemangal New Market, who owns the land next to mine. At that time he did not have any objection, but after buying the land, he first claimed 86 percent of the land in 2 days and later occupied it.The district police super and others staged dharnas at various places to recover the land purchased with crores of rupees. After the last anti-discrimination student movement, when the army camp was set up in Sreemangal municipality, I filed a complaint there. The army camp took cognizance of the complaint and summoned both parties for a hearing the next day on 14 August. The next day, in the presence of both parties, Srimangal assigned the surveyor of the municipality to review the documents of both parties. At one stage of the hearing, the army officer-in-charge talked to Sreemangal Upazila Chairman Bhanu Lal Roy over the phone. After verifying the documents and hearing Bhanu Lal Roy’s statement, the army officer ordered Abidur Rahman Sohel to leave the possession of the land. However, Abidur Rahman Chowdhury refused to give up the possession of the land.

He then sent the complaint to the upazila assistant commissioner (land) office to verify the ownership of the land from the army. In the course of this, when both parties were called to the Asiland office from the AC Land Office, the army officers and both parties appeared at the AC Land Office, the Asiland Sahib said in the presence of everyone – after verifying all the works, he said that the Namazari Khatian, the online rent, the document tag, everything can be seen by reviewing the owner of this land Md. Salim Mia. At that time, Abidur Rahman Sohel left the place on the pretext of various cases.

“” “In the face of continuous threats from the opponent, I filed a written complaint with Sreemangal police station on September 1 and Moulvibazar army camp on September 2.” “” When Abidur Rahman Sohel came to know about the complaint, he started harassing me and my business partners in various ways. “” “As part of this, Abidur Rahman Chowdhury filed two separate cases against me on September 4 at Moulvibazar court on the same day.” “”

“Police – Although there was no investigation into the complaint filed by me at Sreemangal police station on 1 September, my opponent’s court on 4 September started the investigation as soon as the case was filed.”  Based on the case filed by the opponent, the court ordered Sreemangal police station to investigate the matter and submit a report by October 9. The investigation officer of the case, Sreemangal police station SI Md Kamrul Hossain, submitted an application to the Sreemangal upazila assistant commissioner (land) on September 17 to verify the actual ownership of the land and submit a report.

“Speaking at the press conference, Selim Mia said,” Sreemangal police station SI Md Kamrul Hossain applied to the Sreemangal upazila assistant commissioner (land) on September 17 to verify the actual ownership of the land and submit a report.”

Selim Miah sought the intervention of the local administration as well as the home adviser to recover the land occupied by Abidur Rahman, saying that he had suffered huge financial losses by investing in the tourism sector in Sreemangal.

When asked about the matter, accused Abidur Rahman Chowdhury Sohel denied the allegations of land grabbing, saying: “I am the owner of 25 dagas and Selim Mia is the owner of 64 dagas.

According to him, after the upazila land office submits a report to the police station regarding the ownership of the land in the due process, the investigation officer is supposed to submit a report to the court by October 9 in the light of that report. But before sending the ‘ownership verification report’ of the land office, the investigation officer sent a fabricated report to the court on September 20 for invisible reasons. “Nowhere in the report does it say to verify and survey the ownership of the land.” “”

“” “So when I contacted the upazila land office on September 24, the surveyor of the land office asked me to be present on September 29 morning to survey the place on the request of the police.” “” However, on the morning of September 29, the surveyor of the land office informed me that the investigating officer had sent the report to the court without informing them.