Start process of Rana’s extradition
The National Central Bureau (NCB) of the Police Headquarters (PHQ) has written to its counterpart in India to start the process of extraditing Banani Police Inspector Sheikh Sohel Rana, who was recently held by Indian Border Security Forces for trespassing.
Mohiul Islam, assistant inspector general (NCB) of the PHQ, told The Daily Star they have sent an email to the NCB-New Delhi on Sunday to know about the arrested inspector and to start processing his extradition.
"They [India] did not officially communicate the matter to us yet. We wanted details about how the Banani inspector was detained in Cooch Behar. We already started the process to extradite the police officer, although it's a long procedure that will depend on the foreign ministry's involvement in line with the extradition treaty with India."
On Friday, Sohel was detained by the BSF on the Changrabandha border in West Bengal's Cooch Behar on charges of trespassing.
"Bringing back Sohel Rana from India won't be easy as there is a case filed against him there," said DMP Commissioner Shafiqul Islam on Sunday.
Following the arrest, Sohel was suspended from his position.
Meanwhile, investigators are now looking into the wealth of Sohel Rana and his family members, beyond the known sources of income, at home and abroad, after their involvement with e-commerce platform e-orange came out the open.
The platform made headlines for embezzling crores of taka of customers.
Several agencies are investigating the sources of the police officer's unusual wealth, which he accumulated within a few years.
According to investigators, Sohel has four flats, two of which are in Niketan. He ran three business establishments and a number of dealerships of multinational companies. He also runs a business called T&G, with branches in Gulshan and Uttara.
He also bought a plot in Purbachal's Sector-3, two plots in E and I block of a residential area, and land for a resort in Khagrachhari.
He also has investments of crores of taka in Thailand, Portugal, France, Philippines, and Nepal.
Hailing from Gopalganj, he has over 500 bighas of land. Besides, he is a member of a number of elite clubs.
Aminul Islam, inspector (investigation) of Gulshan Police Station, told The Daily Star they have learnt about Sohel's wealth from various sources and they are investigating the matter.
On August 16, a customer, on behalf of others, filed a case against the owners and staffers of e-orange for reportedly embezzling around Tk 1,100 crore by not delivering their products.
A week later, another customer Md Russel filed a case against Sohel and nine others for their alleged involvement in misappropriating Tk 88, 94,918 of the investors.
After receiving a court order, Gulshan police recorded it as a regular case on September 2.
Later that day, Sohel fled the country. He had paid a broker Tk 10,000 to illegally cross Lalmonirhat's Patgram border and planned to go to Europe from Nepal, according to officials.
Days after Sohel fled the country, a Dhaka court on Sunday issued a travel ban against the suspended inspector and five officials of e-orange in the case filed for embezzling around Tk 88.98 lakh.
Sohel's sister Sonia Mehjabin, her husband Masukur Rahman, Chief Operating Officer Amanullah Chowdhury, Bithi Akter, Kausar and all other owners of e-orange were made accused in the first case.
Sonia, Masukur, Amanullah and former COO Nazmul Alam Russel are behind bars now.
The ownership of the company has recently been transferred to Bithi Akter from Sonia.
In the second case, the others accused are Sohel Rana's wife Naznin Nahar Bithi, Kamrul Hasan, Abdul Kader, Nur Jahan Islam Sonia and Rubel Khan.
Sohel has all along been denying allegations of his involvement with e-orange.
However, his name as a director can be seen in the TIN certificate used to open the company called Orange Bangladesh. E-orange and Orange Bangladesh are at the same location. There are allegations that he has withdrawn Tk 2.5 crore from the company at different times.
The IO said when they asked Sonia about it, she told the investigators that Sohel withdrew the money on her request.
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