Shariatpur Correspondent: Upazila Sramik League President Kalam Chowkidar has to pay various transports in Damudya 50 taka per day and 50 thousand taka for bringing a new car on the road. Police arrested him on Wednesday (April 12) based on such allegations. A CNG was recovered from him at that time. He was sent to jail later in the afternoon.
According to sources at Damudya police station, Kamal Chowkidar used to collect 50 taka per day from different transports and store it in the upazila headquarters for a long time. Besides, he had to pay 50,000 rupees if a new car was driven. If the money was not paid, he would take the car and drive it through his people to collect the money.
According to Damudya police station, a person named Zulfikar Sardar filed an extortion case at the police station on Wednesday morning. Kalam Chowkidar was arrested by the police in view of that case. Later, another accused accused his brother Raja Chowkidar; their accomplice Sentu Kotwal was also arrested. In the afternoon, he was brought to Shariatpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. The court judge ordered him to be sent to the district jail.
Mohammad Hasan, son of Zulfikar Sardar of Chhatiyaani village of the upazila, used to drive an autorickshaw in Chittagong. Recently, he came to the village with that CNG to run on the Damudya-Shariatpur road. Upazila Sramik League president Kamal Chowkidar demanded 50,000 taka from him. But the autorickshaw driver, Hasan, agreed to pay him 5 thousand taka. But Kamal Chowkidar did not agree. Kamal got angry with Hasan about the incident.
On April 9, when Hasan came to the Damudya bus stand with an autorickshaw, Kamal hijacked it. Hasan and his family members did not get the autorickshaw back despite protesting to various local leaders of the Awami League. Hasan’s father, Zulfikar Sardar, filed an extortion case at the Damudya police station on Wednesday morning.
Shariatpur District Labor League President Wadud Sardar said, “There is no place for extortionists in our organization.” If found guilty, he will be expelled from the team.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Damudya Police Station Sheikh Shariful Alam said, “We have been receiving complaints of extortion against Kalam Chowkidar for a long time. We investigated the incident and arrested him after getting the facts. There are nine other cases against Kamal for various crimes, including drugs and extortion.
