A 10-storey building is being constructed in Ichapur, Rupganj, Narayanganj, and the local residents are still amazed. Because no one had built a 10-storey building in Ichapur before this. The owner of the building under construction on 17 percent of the land is Mukta Akhter, wife of local resident Mubarak Hossain. Even six years ago, Mubarak’s family was running on the income of the sand business. Mukta had no income. In such a short period of time, the couple bought land for two crore rupees and built a building, two cars worth two crore rupees and two sand carriers (bulkheads). They started a restaurant business in a plot in Purbachal after spending a large sum of money. The local residents could not account for the rise of the Mubarak-Mukta couple.

Officials from the police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit said that while investigating a plot fraud case, Mubarak and Mukta couple had more assets. They have owned them for just six years. They cheated in the name of selling plots by pretending to be fake owners. In this way, they took 84 crore rupees in the name of selling 9 plots. Md. helped them in these works. An office assistant of Capital Development Authority (RAJUK) named Obaidullah. Mubarak used to collect all the land related documents from him. He used to take him to the customers several times in the identity of Rajuk’s official to gain loyalty.

Officials said Mubarak and Mukta had planned to set up permanent residence in Dubai. For this they used to visit Dubai frequently and stay there for several months. However, their fraud was caught before they could arrange permanent residence in Dubai. Mubarak’s wife Mukta Akhtar and their driver Tushar have already been arrested.

Among those whom the Mubarak-Mukta couple cheated in the name of selling plots are the owner of an organization called Youth Group and his relatives. The vice chairman of this group, Akbar Haider, filed a case in Dhaka’s Kafrul police station on July 27 regarding the embezzlement of Tk 84 crore by selling the plot of their ownership. Mubarak, his wife Mukta Akhtar, father-in-law Nazrul Islam and driver Tushar were accused. Police arrested Mukta and Tushar from Bhatara in Dhaka on September 12 in this case.

CTTC officials said Mubarak mediated the purchase of land in the name of the youth group and their family members. Gradually he grew closer to the family and became their confidant. Akbar Haider showed interest in buying some more plots in Purbachal in 2016. Mubarak took some of them to the office of youth group in Kafrul, dressing them as owners of different plots. As Akbar Haider was busy with various works, Mubarak was tasked with viewing the plot and collecting documents from Rajuk to verify the ownership. If he says everything is fine, the price is fixed and arrangements are made to buy them.