AHM Khairuzzaman Liton was elected as the Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) for the first time in 2008. After serving for 5 years, he again became a mayoral candidate in the 2013 election. In that election, his expenses were borne by a Shamsuzzaman Awal, a businessman who is more popularly known as business partner of Liton in Rajshahi. 

In response to a reporter's question on a live talk show ahead of that election, Liton himself said that Awal had been paying all his election expenses for a long time. But Awal never asked or received anything in return.

In fact, on that day the presidium member of Awami League lied publicly in the live talk show. Because, before that, in 2010, Shamsuzzaman Awal, who is currently the director of FBCCI, the top business organisation of the country, was given the task of constructing two multi-storied commercial buildings on the land of Rajshahi City Corporation based on Public Private Partnership (PPP). However, later both works were shelved for more than 10 years. But only because of being Liton's business partner, Awal was given the work of another big building in Sahebbazar Muripatti of the city. It was approved to be up to six floors, but Shamsuzzaman Awal increased it to 10 floors.

Awal's story does not end here. As Liton's partner, he has been one of the top businessman of Rajshahi for a long time. At first, he controlled the contracting business on behalf of Liton. At present, he is also doing work like land occupation and pond filling. He now uses 5 luxury cars worth several crores that include Mercedes and BMW. The Liton-Awal duo has developed close business ties over the past few years with the Nabil Group, which is accused of siphoning hundreds of crores from Islami Bank.

Liton’s kind of Development Work

29 December 2020. It was around 12 o'clock in the midnight. The road work in the Biman Chattar of Rajshahi metropolis had not been completed till then. Suddenly a group of 15-20 armed goons came out from the opposite lane. Their destination was a 4-storied house next to Rajshahi-Naogaon road— the office of the Department of Environment was on the ground and first floors. Owner Dil Afroz Julia and her husband Amanul Haque lived on the second and third floors.

A night watchman who witnessed the entire incident late that night said that a maroon-coloured private car was waiting near the lane from which the goons came out. The thugs went to the 4 storied building talking to someone through the window of the private car. It also moved towards the new unfinished road. Soon, a hellish rampage descended on the building. The thugs attacked the building from all sides and recklessly started vandalising it.

The very next day's newspapers carried a news item not giving it a good treatment, saying the office of the Department of Environment had been mysteriously attacked that night. But it was not possible to understand the real events of that night by reading the news, and there was a big reason behind it, which was beyond the imagination of the general public. It was not revealed for a long time.

The Mirror Asia's long investigation revealed that land grabbing was behind the midnight raid. The man behind it was Shamsuzzaman Awal, one of the mayor Liton's business partners. The target was not the environment office, but the couple who owned the house. Almost two years after this incident, in 2022, they were forced to leave the place under intense pressure. The land along with that house went to Awal's possession.

This story started even earlier, in 2008. After Khairuzzaman Liton was elected the RCC Mayor for the first time, he set his sights on a land of about 24 bighas known as Alif Lam Mim Bhata located in an important area of the city. Once there was Brick Field Company here, the area is named after that. But there was a legal battle between the successors of the two owners over this huge property. Through Shamsuzzaman Awal, Mayor Liton entered into an agreement to purchase the land with one party at a nominal price. The condition was that Khairuzzaman Liton and Shamsuzzaman Awal will deal on behalf of the vendor group in the ongoing court battle. It was also said that they would bear all the liaison and expenses of the case. After winning the court case, the entire land would be owned by Liton and Awal.

It is a disputed land— there is no opportunity to build any other structure there. As a result, one side of the conflicting parties agreed to sell it at a nominal price. But the devil was in the details. 

As soon as the land issue was finalised, Mayor Liton unveiled an incredible project. The RCC took up a project to build an east-west link road from the city's airport road to BIHAS by acquiring a large chunk of land of Alif Lam Mim Bhata, which was not made public until the land came into the hands of the Liton-Awal duo. As soon as the new government project came up, the land prices in that area increased unimaginably. A huge amount of profit came from this land. 

After a long investigation, The Mirror Asia has found that this 24-bigha land was acquired by Mayor Liton in his first mayoral term. The whole land was divided into 3 parts, each of which was of 8 bighas. Khairuzzaman Liton and Shamsuzzaman Awal got two separate parts of this land along with Kabir Hossain, a Rajshahi businessman. When contacted, Kabir Hossain claimed that he had bought this land, saying the involvement with Liton and Awal was only business related. He said, "Buying land is not a crime. After we bought the land there was a road here. Because of that, the price of land has increased, it’s as simple as that.”

But at the last moment, Dil Afroz Julia and Amanul Haque couple stood against the way of this. And because this the attack was carried out at midnight in 2020. Julia is the daughter of one of the two principal owners of the land of Alif Lam Mim Bhata. As a result, she also has a share in the land. Without her consent it became impossible for Liton and Awal to  take control of the entire land. Liton was defeated in the 2013 city election and did not have the opportunity to abuse power until 2018. As a result, Julia-Aman couple did not have to get into trouble at that time.

But after winning the mayor election in the 2018 , Liton turned his attention to the land again. After the 2020 home attack, the couple was picked up by goons late at night and brought to Khairuzzaman Liton's residence in Uposhohor residential area of the city. There, late at night, the sub-register was called to the house and an attempt was made to forcibly sign the land deed from Julia. They survived that night when a senior law enforcement officer stood in the way. However, later that officer was transferred elsewhere. After that, Liton and Awal did not have to wait any more l to take the entire 24 bigha land of Alif Lam Mim Bhata.

When asked about this, Amanul Haque said on the telephone, "A lot of things had happened in this regard. But we don't want to talk about these anymore. We have performed Hajj, now we don't want to get into any more trouble.'

Talking to the people living in that area, it is known that this land grabbing incident is an open secret. They also said that Liton and Awal have purchased more land in the area. They claim that before every development project, Khairuzzaman Liton secures his own business interests there.

Liton eats up Ponds too

As soon as Eid-ul-Azha holiday started in June this year, a wheel loader vehicle of the RCC became active in Terokhadia area of the city. A special work was going on late at night. It was not RCC's own work. Surprisingly, RCC's wheel loader vehicle was used for pond filling. The local ward councilor himself stood and oversaw the filing of the pond during the Eid holidays.

After a few days, the matter became public. RCC's wheel loader vehicle was removed when the news and photographs were published in the local newspapers. But by then the pond was almost filled with sand.

However, in the final hearing of a writ filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the High Court ordered the Rajshahi City Mayor, the director of the Environment Department, RAB and the district administration to preserve the 952 ponds in Rajshahi city. In the hearing, it was also asked to ensure that no other pond in the city is filled or encroached upon. Rajshahi City Mayor Khairuzzaman Liton himself speaks loudly about pond conservation. So how can the pond be filled in the dark of night using that RCC vehicle? Even after knowing the matter, why didn't RCC take any disciplinary action?

To find answers to these questions, The Mirror Asia contacted Kamal Hossain, Ward No. 3 Councilor of RCC. At first, he repeatedly enticed The Mirror Asia reporter to sit with him separately. When his proposal was rejected, he said, 'What you are referring to as a pond, it is not a pond at all. Rather, officially it belongs to the 'Land' category. As a result, there is no legal barrier to fill it with sand.’

‘It's not really about me alone. Our mayor's business partner Awal himself is connected with this. He bought this land; I am with him. We hired RCC's wheel loader to fill the pond with sand. But later due to the pesterning of journalists, I stopped that too,' added Councilor Kamal.

But another story has emerged from Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner's (DC) office. A source said that the distance between Khairuzzaman Liton and the current Deputy Commissioner Shamim Ahmed has increased over the filling of ponds in Rajshahi. Shamim Ahmed is strongly opposed to pond filling. He even announced awards for playing a role in stopping pond filling. But Khairuzzaman Liton's business partner Shamsuzzaman Awal is trying to buy ponds at a low price and change their class to 'land', so that there is no legal obstacle to fill them.

When asked, DC Shamim Ahmed claimed that during his tenure, he did not allow anyone to change class of any pond in the city. He also vowed to take legal action against pond filling. He refused to talk more about it.

A source close to Khairuzzaman Liton told The Mirror Asia that attempts are being made to replace the current DC and bring a new DC of their choice to Rajshahi for not complying with Shamsuzzaman Awal's request to change the class of the pond. In that case, their first choice is Alamgir Kabir, currently Deputy Secretary (Planning-2) in the Ministry of Shipping. Mr. Kabir spent most of his career in Rajshahi. Served as AC (Land) in one upazila and UNO in another upazila. Besides, he was the ADC of Rajshahi district. Alamgir Kabir was the private secretary of RCC Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton before being promoted to the post of Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping.

It was through Alamgir Kabir that for a long time the Liton-Awal duo did all their shady work in the local administration. In Rajshahi everyone knows Kabir as loyal and obedient to Liton. Besides, Alamgir Kabir played an important role in creating the business relationship between Liton and his family with the controversial Amana Group.

Shamsuzzaman Awal's pond filling is not just one, there are many more. Among them, the most talked about was the case of filling the Buripukur of 218 katha in Lakshipur area of the city. 240 people were the owners of that pond. After buying it from them at a nominal price, the sand filling work started in 2019. In that year 15 katha area of the pond were filled. The remaining part of the pond was filled using City Corporation vehicles during the 2021 Eid holidays. Liton-Awal duo also had a partner in filling this pond, a business company named Nabil Group. Although the pond is on the conservation list, it was declassified in 2022 through abuse of power by filling it illegally.

When asked, Rajshahi Development Authority (RDA) chairman Ziaul Haque claimed that RDA has filed a case regarding the filling of the pond. He said, "This incident happened before I took charge. As a result, I had nothing to do about it at that time. But as far as I know, we have taken legal action.”

But the irony is that in this case filed by RDA, an owner of the pond named Nurul Islam, who died in 2021, has been made the prime accused. The filing of the case against a dead person has raised fears about the case’s future.