Police have arrested fugitive bank officer Sharifuzzaman Sohag on charges of embezzlement of crores of rupees from Agrani Bank customers in Srinagar of Munshiganj. A joint team of the district detective branch (DB) and Srinagar police station arrested him from Paikpara area of Mirpur-1 in Dhaka on Tuesday night.
Munshiganj Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime and Operation) Kamran Hasan confirmed the arrest on Wednesday morning (September 30th). Sharifuzzaman was in hiding at his sister’s house in Mirpur-1 area. He was arrested on the basis of secret information. Later that night, he was brought to Munshiganj. He will be produced before the court today.
Sharifuzzaman Sohag was an officer (cash) at the Srinagar Agrani Bank branch. Branch manager Sarfuddin filed a written complaint against him with the police station on Thursday for allegedly embezzling money from customers using the bank’s deposit slip. Later, the police registered the complaint as a general diary (GD) and sent it to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
According to the bank and local sources, 255 customers complained in writing in three days from Sunday to Tuesday. Of them, 184 complained on Sunday, 46 on Monday and 25 on Tuesday. The amount of the claimed dues to the complainants range from one lakh to a maximum of Rs 84 lakh. The number of complaints could be increased, according to the report.
Talking to the bank-related and local people, it was learnt that the amount of embezzled money could exceed Rs 25 crore. However, the actual amount of money is not yet certain.
Mizanur Rahman, chief officer in charge of the branches of Agrani Bank’s Munshiganj district, said one person has been charged with a GD. At the same time, it is being investigated whether anyone else was involved in the embezzlement incident and how much money was embezzled in the total.
ACC deputy director Ismail Hossain said the GD from the bank was sent to the ACC on Friday. He said the GDT was sent to the ACC headquarters on Sunday. Action will be taken as per the instructions given by the Commission regarding the next investigation or investigation. After the investigation, the actual incident and the amount of money will be confirmed.
No case has been filed in this connection so far. According to the police, Sharifuzzaman Sohag will be shown arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code for the time being.