The meeting was arranged at a government rest house in Sunamganj in January.
Three luxury cars were parked outside with a number of security guards on watch. The local upazila nirbahi officer was taking care of food and other amenities.
The host introduced himself as Shahed, chairman of Regent Group and a retired major who was now the secretary of the political research committee at the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the meeting, called to discuss business with a trader from Chhatak, Shahed placed an order for supply of stone in Cox’s Bazar and sand in Purbachal area of Dhaka.
He said he needed the sand and stone — two ships full each — for his real estate business.
Shahed said he would pay whatever the bill would be. After the delivery, he wrote Ekhlas a cheque of Tk 30 lakh and wanted to pay the rest through a letter of credit (LC).
Ekhlas then requested Shahed to give an LC for Tk 94 lakh to a car showroom as he needed to import an excavator from China.
Shahed handed over the papers of the LC to the showroom in Ekhlas’s presence. “But a month later, when I went to the showroom, they informed me that Shahed took away the LC after a week,” he added.
Besides, when he went to encash the cheque of Tk 30 lakh, the bank authorities said there was no money in the account.
Since then, whenever he called Shahed, his secretary would pick up the phone and say nothing clearly about the payment.
After some days, the secretary said Shahed was suffering from Covid-19.
“Finally on June 29, Shahed met me but threatened me taking a gun from his bodyguard. He said I will not get any money and if I file any complaint, he would take my life.”
With all the documents, the trader is now waiting for a response from law enforcers as he wants to file a case.
Since the arrest of Shahed Karim on July 15, many including businessmen, rickshaw pullers, job seekers, doctors and lawyers are communicating with law enforcers and filling complaints.
The Daily Star has managed to talk with some of them.
Another businessman in Dhaka said he supplied sand and stone worth Tk 3.70 lakh two years back but Shahed never paid a dime. When contacted, Shahed threatened to shut down his business as he had close links with influential people.
A man from Bogura said Shahed has accomplices in the district.
“I met one of his associates through a friend of mine and he took me to Dhaka. Shahed told me that he had links with high officials in every sector and he could arrange a government job for me,” he said.
“I was told that all I needed to do was give him Tk 5 lakh.”
The man said he arranged the money by selling his property and handed it to Shahed but never got the job.
On Friday, the Rapid Action Battalion formed an investigation cell to provide support to the people who were allegedly cheated by Shahed.
Till yesterday noon, the elite crime buster received calls from 120 people and emails from 20 others, who claimed to have been conned by Shahed, said Lt Col Ashique Billah, director of Rab’s legal and media wing.
“Analysing mobile phone records, we have found that Shahed gained around Tk 10 crore by deceiving people — like promising job or transfer,” he said.
One of Shahed’s sources of wealth was giving fake licences to rickshaw pullers. He would first take Tk 2,000 and then Tk 200 per month for one such licence.
Some government and private banks also said he defaulted on loans, said the official.
Investigators say Shahed had five armed bodyguards with him round the clock. They, however, went into hiding after these scams came to light.
He used to take photographs with ministers, admin officials and law enforcers and show those to people to prove himself a bigshot. That would make his jobs easy.
Kazi Shafiqul Alam, deputy commissioner of DB Uttara division, said they were receiving various complaints against Shahed. “We are analysing the information to find out his partners in crime.”
On July 7, a mobile court of Rab sealed off Regent Group’s head office and Regent Hospital in Uttara for Covid-19 test report forgery and charging patients for test and treatment, violating an agreement with the government.
Shahed, accused in over 60 cases, is now on a ten-day remand of Detective Branch of police.
Meanwhile, detectives conducted a drive taking him along with them in the capital’s Uttara early yesterday and recovered an SUV. They found a pistol, one bullet, five bottles of foreign liquor and 10 bottles of Phensedyl in the car.
In another development, the government yesterday cancelled the Shahed’s press accreditation card, reports UNB.
“The accreditation card of Md Shahed has been cancelled as he was arrested in a case,” said Information Department’s Chief Information Officer Surath Kumar Sarkar.
Shahed had got a declaration for a daily newspaper named “Natun Kagoj” and managed the accreditation card, he said.
