It was 10 years ago that she landed a job at BDF Security Service on a monthly salary of Tk 40,000. Unfortunately, Gazi Nasrin Akhter Naz only got paid in the first two months, prompting her to quit the job three months later.
Mohammed Shahed aka Shahed Karim, founder of the security service, and his men subsequently coaxed her into paying Tk 180,000 for his MLM business. The salaries and investment eventually turned into a big financial loss for Nasrin. She is now a lawyer in the High Court.
Nasrin believes she was one of the earliest victims of Shahed’s fraudulent schemes, before the inception of Regent Hospital, believes the lawyer. She is now considering suing him.
Like Nasrin, 92 people have lodged complaints against Shahed over a 24-hour on the email account and hotline opened by the Rapid Action Battalion on Friday evening.
“We’re calling it hot service and not a hotline. Among the 92 complaints, 20 were reported through email and 72 by phone. Some of the complainants were defrauded over the supplies of sand and stone while others were duped into paying advance money
to get bank loans,” said Ashik Billah, director of RAB legal and media wing.
The complaints illustrate how Shahed cheated the common people in different ways, according to the RAB official.
Contractor Mohammed Mostafa lives near Regent Hospital in Uttara’s Sector 10. A group of young men in the neighbourhood working in Regent Hospital approached him in February and asked for Tk 1 million, saying their boss (Shahed) was facing some trouble. They also made threats before taking him to Shahed.
Shahed didn’t seem like a dubious person when he met him, Mostafa told bdnews24.com. He gave him Tk 1 million and Shahed immediately handed him a cheque to be encashed in the last week of February.
But the cheque bounced when Mostafa deposited it. When he went to Shahed’s office about the matter, he was asked to deposit it later. It was again dishonoured and this time Shahed, reproached him for going to the bank without informing him.
When he visited the Regent office again, Mostafa was threatened with serious harm and asked to drop the matter.
“I hope you’re not a representative of Regent Group. I just received a threatening call from one of them,” Mostafa said while speaking to bdnews24.com over the phone.
He filed a complaint against Shahed in the RAB’s ‘hot service’ after his arrest. “When I went to the police station to start a case, they suggested that I go to the court.”
Last year, Shahed signed a contract with Md Karim to supply sand worth Tk 1 billion. Karim paid Tk 600,000 to Shahed as security in line with the contract.
They subsequently applied for a bank loan necessary for the procurement and the entire process cost another Tk 400,000, Karim told bdnews24.com.
When the bank called Shahed’s office to verify the contract between Shahed and Karim, they found the agreement had been terminated cancelled already.
Shahed or his office never informed Karim about the cancellation of the contract but he came to know about it from the bank. Again, they threatened him with harm when he tried to get recover the security payment and other expenses. He later reported the matter to the RAB.
A businessman in Mohakhali, wishing to remain anonymous, said Shahed bought refrigerators and air-conditioners worth Tk 10 million for his office from him without payment.
The incident took place six years ago when he received a cheque signed by Shahed, which immediately bounced.
He took the help of the police and recovered all the products from Shahed’s Uttara office, said the businessman, adding that he was fortunate that he could get those back before they were unloaded at Shahed’s office premises.
Obaidul Majid, a businessman in Purbachal voiced his frustration at not being paid for supplying sand worth Tk 1.2 million a year ago.
He had signed a contract with Shahed but instead of being piad what he was owed, Majid, too, was threatened with dire consequences.
“I see the frustration in other creditors as well when I visit Shahed’s office. His men beat up those who protest.”
He saw police high-ups coming out of Shahed’s room smiling, said Majid, while expressing his relief at being able to file a complaint with RAB.
The elite police unit are considering each and every complaint and recommending the necessary action that can be taken by the victims, said Ashik Billah.
Md Zahid, one of those aggrieved by Shahed’s actions, went to Pallabi Police Station on Saturday as suggested by RAB. Shahed defrauded Zahid with hopes of giving him a job while Regent Group also filed a false case against him, OC Nazrul Islam of Pallabi Police Station told bdnews24.com. They have asked Zahid to go to the court to resolve the issue, Nazrul added.
Shahed is currently being interrogated by detective police on a 10-day remand.
Shahed, the chairman of Regent Group, went on the run after it emerged that his hospitals swindled thousands of unsuspecting patients out of millions of takas on the pretext of coronavirus treatment.
The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB sealed off the headquarters and two branches of Regent Hospital in Dhaka. It also initiated a case against 17 people, including Shahed, on charges of issuing fake COVID-19 test reports and other irregularities.
Shahed has allegedly embezzled billions by defrauding ordinary people through his microcredit and MLM business. The RAB eventually arrested him from the Satkhira frontier on Jul 15.
