Bangladesh Railway former GM Yusuf Ali Mridha gets four years in jail

Bangladesh Railway's former east zone General Manager Yusuf Ali Mridha has been given four years in jail, along with two others, in two cases of corruption over the recruitment of assistant chemists and fuel checkers.

Chittagong Division's special judge court's Justice Mir Ruhul Amin pronounced the verdict on Thursday.

Apart from giving Mridha and the two others four years in jail, they were fined Tk 10,000 each, failing to pay which would get them an additional three months in prison, said state counsel Mesbah Uddin Chowdury.

The two others punished along with Mridha are former east zone railway's welfare officer Golam Kibria and former assistant chief engineer Hafizur Rahman Chowdhury. The verdict was delivered in their presence. 

Five others were acquitted because the charges could not be proved against them, said Mesbah Uddin Chowdhury.

Three of six accused in the case -- Sultana Begum, Zajirul Islam and Ganesh Chandra Shil -- were applicants for the job of chemist. They have been let off by the court.

Two applicants of the five accused for the job of fuel checker -- Abul Kashem and Anisur Rahman -- have also been acquitted by the court.

In both cases, 18 witnesses deposed, the state counsel Mesbah Uddin Chowdhury said.

Yusuf Ali Mridha was temporarily suspended after he was caught with Omar Farukh Talukdar, assistant to then Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta, in a car near the BGB headquarters with huge amount of cash on Apr 9, 2012. 

Talukdar was sacked from his job. 

Media reports suggested they were carrying Tk 7 million in cash, all picked up from bribes made available by railway job seekers.

Anti-graft agency ACC filed 18 cases in Chittagong Kotwali Police Station against Yusuf Ali Mridha between 2010 and 2012 for irregularities related to recruitment.

On Feb 5 of 2014, charges were framed against five accused in the case over recruitment of fuel checkers. 

Charges were framed over the case about recruitment of chemists had been filed on Feb 19, 2014. 

Yusuf Ali Mridha was sent to prison after he surrendered in court on Mar 3, 2014.

He was given three years in jail last August over concealment on illegally earned wealth.