A court has sent four people, including a union parishad chairman to jail in a rice embezzlement case in Kushtia today (Thursday). All of them are local Awami League leaders.
The accused are Dabir Uddin Biswas, chairman of Goswami Durgapur Union Parishad (UP) who is also the general secretary of Goswami Durgapur Union unit Awami League. Others are Maruful Islam, a member of Ward No. 1 of the same UP, Montu Hossain, a rice dealer and Sarwar Hossain, President of Ward No. 1 of the same union Awami League.
Senior Judge Mohsin Hasan of Kushtia Judicial Magistrate's Court passed the order on Thursday afternoon.
Public Prosecutor of Kushtia Judge Court Advocate Anup Nandi said the accused had applied for bail in the court but the judge did not grant it and ordered them to be sent in jail. An arrest warrant was already against them.
According to case, Chairman Dabir Uddin Biswas, with the help of his associates, had been embezzling rice at the rate of Tk 10 per kg from the food aid scheme for the ultra-poor for the last four years without giving it to the enlisted persons.
The issue was caught while compiling a list of free government rice distribution during the lockdown in the last Corona situation in April. Later, when the matter came to the notice of the court, Selina Khatun, the then Senior Judicial Magistrate of Kushtia, filed the case and ordered the Kushtia Model Police Station to inquiry and submit report.
After confirming the matter true, police submitted the investigation report to the court on June 18. The court issued arrest warrants against them.