Different groups with vested interests have remained engaged in corruption and various irregularities involving the assets belonging to Shah Ali Mazar, a renowned shrine in the capital’s Mirpur area.
Irregularities in allocating raw material warehouses and shops on the property of Shah Ali Mazar waqf estate, worth thousands of crores of taka, along with extortion, are an everyday affair, according to a TIMES of Bangladesh investigation.
People in charge of managing the shrine and its vast property are always involved in corruption and irregularities with impunity due to the inaction of the authorities concerned.
Lakhs of taka are collected from devotees as donations and grants, and for organising annual Urs mahfil (religious gathering). There have been allegations of widespread misappropriation of money and property of the mazar.
Many devotees alleged that various groups of people involved in running the mazar are resorting to corruption on a massive scale, without caring for any transparency whatsoever. They said that people managing the mazar are doing whatever they want.
Watch our multimedia story on Shah Ali Mazar here.
Probes conducted by the government have found proof of corruption and irregularities. As a result, the shady allocations of warehouses and shops built on mazar property are going to be cancelled. At the same time, many are raising objections to the new allocations.
Tanvir Ahmed, mutawalli (manager of waqf estate) of Shah Ali Mazar and deputy commissioner of Dhaka, told TIMES that an investigation is underway to unearth corruption involving the shrine.
However, a source familiar with the investigation told this correspondent, “The investigation has found proof of massive corruption and irregularities. Steps are being taken after receiving the report. All the allocations and leases of the past have been revoked.”
The vast property of the shrine at Mirpur-1 houses many structures, including warehouses for raw materials and fruits and shops. There are some 130 employees to manage the activities of the mazar.
The total land area of the shrine stands at 32.14 acres or 97.40 bighas. Of this, only 5.76 acres of land is in possession of the shrine, according to a report submitted by the Mirpur land office on 16 January 2022.
However, the mazar manager Morshed Alam said that the organisation has 27.77 acres of land. Even if he is right, according to the land office, about 22.01 acres of the mazar’s land have been dispossessed.
Farid Ahmed, assistant waqf administrator (current charge) of the legal branch of the Office of the Administrator of Waqfs Bangladesh, said that the mazar managing committee and the mutawalli look after everything. If anyone files a complaint, the managing committee is informed, and the committee can take all the decisions.
He said that the Office of the Administrator of Waqfs Bangladesh does not know much about the affairs at Shah Ali Mazar.
After 5 August 2024, the day the Sheikh Hasina-led government was ousted, a new managing committee was constituted to run the affairs of the mazar. The committee, headed by the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, comprises the additional deputy commissioner (revenue), a director of the Department of Social Services, a director of the Islamic Foundation, the regional executive officer of Zone-4 of the Dhaka North City Corporation, the assistant commissioner (land) of Mirpur circle, the officer-in-charge of Shah Ali police station, and the deputy assistant of the union (land) of Mirpur circle.
Earlier, local members of parliament used to be the head of the managing committee.
Amid allegations of widespread irregularities and corruption, Marjanur Rahman, assistant commissioner of the Dhaka deputy commissioner’s office, was given the responsibility of investigating the entire matter last year.
Marjanur Rahman told this correspondent that a 140-page investigation report has been submitted. The investigation has found evidence of massive corruption. Irregularities had been going on there for a long time. People in charge plundered mazar assets at their will.
A total of 24.92 acres of land in three mouzas, including 19.52 acres in Bishil mouza, 4.35 acres in Chhota Diabari mouza, and 1.05 acres in Zahurabad mouza under Mirpur police station, were registered under Shah Ali Mazar waqf estate by the government. In addition, a writ petition filed with the High Court in 2022 mentioned that another 7.22 acres or 21.88 bighas of privately owned land was also donated to the estate.
A writ was also filed in 2016 to recover 75 bighas of land. But the land was not recovered.
The writ petitioner, Advocate Md Salah Uddin Sikder, said shop owners are occupying the property of the waqf estate of the mazar with the direct help of the managing committee.
Some 2.7 acres of property in Chhoto Diabari and Dakshin Bishil mouzas have remained dispossessed for many years. Part of Chhota Diabari has been lost to the Turag River. The land in Dakshin Bishil is in the possession of a local Swechchhasebak League leader named Nabil Khan. On 3.3 katha of that land, he constructed a two-storey market in the name of his father Salim Khan.
Nabil Khan, an accused in the July coup murder case, is now absconding.
Saiful Islam, the leaseholder of a raw material and fruit warehouse, told TIMES of Bangladesh that several trade bodies have been formed to manage the operations of the fruit warehouse.
He said that a lease agreement was signed on 23 January 2022 for Tk 2 crore. The warehouse was supposed to be handed over on 5 May with a monthly rent of Tk 7.5 lakh, taking Tk 50 lakh advance. But Mofizur Rahman Bebu, the elder brother of former MP Aslamul Haque and a presidium member of the Jatiya Party (JP), did not honour the agreement after consultation with a trade body. After the death of Aslamul Haque, Anga Khan Mintu and Jubo League General Secretary Mainul Hossain Nikhil took charge of running the mazar. Although they were in charge, Bebu, as the local MP, used to call the shots.
The land was allotted on paper, but the possession was not given to the allottees. Even a High Court order in this regard was not obeyed. It is alleged that Bebu has misappropriated several crores of Taka in the name of shop allotment.
Former MP Mainul Hossain Nikhil, an accused in several murder cases, is known to be absconding abroad. Murder case accused Bebu could not be reached for comment as he is in hiding.
A total of Tk 1.65 lakh is raised every day from 120 shops of the warehouse. Of that, only Tk 15,000 goes to the mazar fund. It is alleged that Morshed Alam, in charge of the managing committee, is misappropriating the rest through a syndicate. Many people possess multiple shops in different names. There are 90 to 120 stalls in an old raw material market. Then there is a wholesale fruit shop in a tin shed. There are more than 500 stalls in this shed.
Morshed Alam denied all the allegations.
Thirteen businessmen, including Ramiz Uddin, have complained to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) about irregularities in the management of the mazar. Despite depositing the money for the shop allocation in the warehouse, they are yet to get the possession.
Talking to Ramiz Uddin and some other traders, they told this correspondent that money from mazar property is being plundered at will without any regard for transparency and accountability. The staff of the mazar and people associated with political parties are embezzling a huge amount of money every day.
