Allegation of seizing 15 shops of a Jhenaidah market over unpaid extortion, case filed and Section 144 imposed

An allegation has been raised that half of a market in Kaliganj upazila of Jhenaidah has been seized after extortion money was not paid. Market owner Asaduzzaman Mintu alleges that his tenant Asadur Zaman Sonet, without any valid documents, seized 15 shops, is collecting rent from them, and has named the seized portion Asadur Zaman Plaza.

The accused Sonet is the son of the late Arab Ali of BadeDihi village in Kaliganj and the nephew of Abul Kalam Azad, a former joint convener of the upazila BNP.

Local residents said Asaduzzaman Mintu built a market beside the railway line at Barbazar in Kaliganj upazila in 2011 and named it Mridha Shahajahan Plaza. He built the market on 15 decimals of ancestral land under plots 121, 122, 123, 124 and 525 of Mithapukur mouza, and on 960 square feet of land taken from Bangladesh Railway by paying commercial revenue. The market has 30 shops in total, six of them tin-shed shops on railway land.

Sonet rented shop No. 3 in the western row of the market in 2018. When the five-year agreement ended, he renewed it on June 1, 2023. The owner alleges that after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, Sonet began manoeuvring to seize the market, and in September 2026 seized 15 shops and collected one month's rent.

Bangladesh Railway sources said that to take over the market, Asadur Zaman Sonet deposited Tk 23,760 on August 31, 2026, and obtained a DCR for commercial use of 600 square feet of land under plots 93/95 of Mithapukur mouza from the office of the railway's divisional estate officer. It was signed by Md Shafiqul Islam, the divisional estate officer of Pakshi.

Afterwards, market owner Asaduzzaman Mintu contacted Pakshi following the seizure of the 15 shops. On September 10 this year, the officer cancelled Sonet's allocation for the 600 square feet of land. In the notice he stated that Sonet had obtained the commercial revenue payment or compensation notice for the 600 square feet by giving false information to the railway administration, and that in reality Sonet has no possession or structure at that place.

Asaduzzaman Mintu said Sonet has been harassing him in various ways since the BNP government came to power. Sonet seized the market's 15 shops because a large sum of extortion money was not paid, Mintu said. Using the influence of his uncle, a BNP leader, Sonet seized his market and, taking over his structure, named it Asadur Zaman Plaza, he alleged.

A shopkeeper of Mridha Shahjahan Plaza, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Asadur Zaman Sonet is a tenant of this market who does business renting a shop like them. But last September it was heard that he had become the owner of 15 shops and that rent would now have to be paid to Sonet, or the shops would have to be vacated. Out of that fear, the shopkeeper paid Sonet the rent for September.

Mintu also said all his documents are valid. Six shops are built on railway land. But Sonet is seizing and collecting rent from 15 shops including nine more built on his ancestral land, for which Sonet has no valid documents, he said. Since June this year, Sonet has not even paid the rent for his own shop, according to Mintu.

Mintu filed a case in a Jhenaidah court on September 20 over the incident. According to him, the court issued an order under Section 144.

When asked, Asadur Zaman Sonet said he has not officially received any cancellation notice from the railway. He is still a tenant of that market's land. Last September he collected rent from 13 shops. He claimed those are not on any ancestral land. On collecting rent by seizing another's structure, he said he had contacted Mintu to pay the cost of constructing the structure, but Mintu does not meet him.

Sonet's uncle Abul Kalam Azad, former joint convener of Kaliganj upazila BNP, said the market owner's documents are not valid. He has not paid land tax for the past 10 years. After that, his nephew Sonet brought a DCR from the railway. Asked whether another person's structure can be seized and rent collected from it, he said work to demolish the structure is under way.

Rashed Khan, the BNP-nominated candidate for the Jhenaidah-4 seat and political assistant to the prime minister, said Asadur Zaman Sonet, against whom the allegation has been made, is not anyone of the BNP. If the person whose market has been seized takes legal help and his documents are correct, his position will certainly be in that person's favour, he said. There will be no place in the BNP for any extortionist, grabber or drug dealer, he said, adding that after learning of the matter he told the victim to file a complaint with the police station.