Bangladesh court sentences Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in corruption cases
Dhaka (PTI): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years in jail in two separate corruption cases related to alleged irregularities in allocations of land in a government housing project.
Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Rabiul Alam handed down the verdicts, sentencing Hasina to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment — five years in each case, state-run BSS news agency reported.
The court sentenced 78-year-old Hasina, her nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, and her nieces, Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and others in the cases over alleged irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol.
The judgment was pronounced at around 12.30 pm.
Tulip Siddiq was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment — two years in each case — while Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were each sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in both cases.
Rajuk member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, the only accused to surrender before the court, was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment in each case, totalling two years.
The court also fined all convicted persons Tk1 lakh each and ordered them to serve an additional six months in prison in default of payment.
Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.
The cases were filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over alleged abuse of power in the allocation of two 10-katha plots.
According to the prosecution, the accused manipulated the allocation process and violated existing rules and regulations of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk).
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
