High Court orders ACC to investigate Rajarbagh Pir Dillur Rahman

The High Court has ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the assets and bank accounts of Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif and its Pir, or Muslim holy man, Dillur Rahman.

It also directed the police’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit to look into Dillur and his followers for possible links to militancy.

The panel of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the orders along with a set of rules after hearing a writ petition filed by eight people on Sunday.

Both the ACC and police have been given 60 days to report back to the court.

The petitioners alleged the followers of Dillur harassed them by filing numerous cases against them on human trafficking and other criminal charges.

The petitioners are Md Abdul Quader, Mahbubur Rahman Khokon, Fazlul Karim, Joynal Abedin, Md Alauddin, Zinnat Ali, Ayubur Hasan Shamim, Nazma Aktar and Nargis Aktar.

The police’s Criminal Investigation Department has been tasked been with identifying the plaintiffs of the cases against the petitioners and submit a report within 60 days.

The court also asked the authorities to explain why legal action should not be taken against those who filed the cases with an aim to harass people.

The home secretary, inspector general of police, additional IGP of Special Branch, CID’s additional director general, the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, Detective Branch joint commissioner, ACC chairman, Dillur and the plaintiffs of the cases in question have been given 20 days to respond.

Shishir Monir, the lawyer for the petitioners, said the court ordered the authorities to ensure security of his clients.

The court expressed surprise at Dillur’s activities after seeing a CID probe report on Sept 6. The police made the report after Ekramul Ahsan Kanchon, a resident of Shantibagh, challenged the cases filed against him on Dillur’s orders.

Ekramul alleged the plaintiffs do not actually exist and the cases were filed to harass him for his refusal to transfer a piece of land he has inherited. The land is situated next to Dillur’s Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif.

His mother and two siblings, who are followers of Dillur, transferred the ownership of their shares of the land to the Darbar Sharif. But Ekramul and another sibling refused to become followers of Dillur and give up their shares of the land.

He was later accused of numerous offences, including rape, sexual harassment, acid violence and human trafficking, in 49 cases.

The CID found Dillur’s hand behind the cases. It also cited an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission to back its claim.

Dillur has been acquitted in 20 of the cases and 14 others are under trial.