Three people have been arrested for cutting a hill in Mirersarai of Chittagong without approval of the authorities.
Upazila administration and Jorarganj police detained Abdul Majid, Abdur Raqib and Ajmat Ali red-handed on Friday. They were shown arrested in a case filed the previous day and sent to jail.
Sub-Inspector Ariful Islam of Jorarganj police station lodged the case.
Sources said local influential Nasir Uddin Didar sold the soil of Darbar Tila at Sonapahar of Jorarganj union to Reza Construction. Workers of the firm were cutting soil of the hill for the last few days.
Nasir, the prime accused in the case, admitted the activities. He introduced himself as a local representative of the firm. Another accused Shakwat Hossain, deputy manager of Reza Construction, claimed the company had approval to cut one acre of the hill. He said the company had purchased 10.5 acre hilly land from the Dhaka Environment Directorate in 2011.
“The administration has unnecessarily lodged the case against us,” he alleged.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Muhammad Ashraf Hossain said: “The government does not permit anyone to cut hills. Reza Construction was cutting soil from railway’s land. They showed us fake papers.”