Jamaat man jailed for 2-yr after cash seized from party's Shariatpur office

A mobile court has sentenced a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami activist to two years' in jail after law enforcers recovered Tk720,000 in cash during a raid on an election office of the party in Shariatpur's Naria municipality.

Judicial Magistrate Sujon Mia, who is serving on the election investigation and adjudication committee, passed the order through a mobile court this evening (11 February).

Earlier, the joint forces conducted the raid in the South Boishakhi Para area where they detained Golam Mostafa, an assistant teacher at Haji Syed Ahmad Government Primary School.

Naria Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Lucky Das said joint forces launched the raid after receiving information that money was being distributed from the office for election purposes.

"From the spot, we recovered a list related to money distribution, a laptop hard disk, and more than Tk700,000 in cash. A government primary school teacher was found inside the office, but he failed to provide any acceptable explanation for his presence there," she added.

"Therefore, legal action was taken," she said, adding that the cash and other materials were seized as evidence.

Police later sent the convict to jail, officials said.

According to officials, Mostafa had been assigned duty as a polling officer at Panchapalli High School centre in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile, Masud Kabir, head of the media cell of the constituency's Jamaat candidate Mahmud Hossain, claimed the money was kept to cover transportation and food expenses of party workers across 136 polling centres in the constituency.

"The administration conducted the raid intentionally. We will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission," he said.