Former Madarganj upazila Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Abdul Wahed, 55, has been arrested in a case over the alleged embezzlement of more than Tk 391.58 crore belonging to customers of Al Aqaba Multipurpose Cooperative Society in Madarganj, Jamalpur.
Wahed, who was permanently expelled from Jamaat-e-Islami in May following the cooperative's financial scandal, was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) during a drive in the Bypass area of Jamalpur town on Tuesday afternoon, according to a press release issued by RAB-14's Jamalpur CPC-1 on Wednesday.
He was later handed over to Madarganj Model Police Station and produced before the Jamalpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Court the same evening. Senior Judicial Magistrate Romana Akter ordered that he be sent to jail.
Abdul Wahed is also a director of Al Aqaba Multipurpose Cooperative Society and principal of Milon Bazar Vanbari Alim Madrasha.
Major Labid Ahmed, company commander of RAB-14 CPC-1, said Abdul Wahed was arrested in an operation conducted with the assistance of information technology following a tip-off. He was later handed over to the police for legal action.
According to Madarganj Model Police Station, customers filed the case on May 4 this year against Abdul Wahed and his associates, accusing them of fraud and embezzlement.
The first information report (FIR) states that the cooperative society has 12,661 customers with total deposits of Tk 391,57,65,376. It alleges that the society's directors and their associates embezzled the depositors' money.
Police said Abdul Wahed had been absconding since the case was filed. He is accused in eight cases, including the present one, and was wanted under court-issued arrest warrants. RAB launched the operation after the warrants were issued.
On May 5, Jamaat-e-Islami permanently expelled Abdul Wahed from the party, saying it would not take responsibility for his alleged unethical activities linked to the cooperative scandal.
Snehashish Roy, officer-in-charge of Madarganj Model Police Station, said there was a court-issued arrest warrant against Abdul Wahed, who had been absconding for a long time. He said RAB arrested him on Tuesday and handed him over to the police before he was produced before the court, which ordered that he be sent to jail.
