Son of poor rickshaw-puller Abu Raihan from Noakhali, Presidency University student Abdur Razzak bin Sulaiman Riyad became a top coordinator of the private university branch of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM) after the fall of the Awami League government.
Soon, the financial crisis of the family disappeared. About two months ago, Razzak started work on a pucca building in his village. He also bought an expensive car and a bike.
The building could be 900 to 1,000 square feet in size. An engineer, who did not want to be named, told Prothom Alo that it costs Tk20-25 lakh to build a 1,000 sq-ft pucca building. Till the roofing, some Tk12-15 lakh has been spent so far.
As an ADSM leader, Razzak used to show his strength by posting pictures with political leaders on Facebook. Advisers of the interim government and the National Citizen Party (NCP) were also not left out of his picture frame.
Videos of his speeches praising NCP Convener and former adviser, Nahid Islam, and against extortion have gone viral since Saturday.
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When the Bangladesh Democratic Studentsโ Union (BDSU) was formed on February 26 this year, Razzak became its Central Joint Convener. After his arrest, he was expelled from BDSU.
His mother, Rezia Begum, is a housewife. She used to work as a housemaid to run the family. Poverty and hardship were constant in their family.
Razzak is the youngest of two brothers and two sisters. His brother used to ride a rickshaw, but recently he got a job in a private company in Dhaka, she said, adding that the eldest son also runs a shop on the footpath.
Locals said Razzakโs grandfather, Waliullah, was a rickshaw puller. His father, Abu Raihan, was also a rickshaw puller and had been working as a daily wage labourer for quite some time. He dreamed that one day Razzak would get a big job and take care of the family.
After Razzakโs arrest on Saturday night, many journalists visited their house at Nabipur under Senbug Upazila of Noakhali.
At that time, Abu Raihan did not face the journalists. When asked, the mother identified herself as Rezia Begum and Shamsunnahar to various journalists.
The mother could not believe that her son was an extortionist.
The locals are surprised by his sudden change. They were scared of questioning the source of his money and luxurious life under the guise of a student coordinator.
Former president of Nabipur High School, Shihab Uddin, said: “Everyone in my school used to support this student in his education because his poor rickshaw puller father could not afford his education. It is hard to believe how he became such a terrible extortionist.”
The final attempt
Before collecting a ransom of Tk10 lakh from the house of Shammi Ahmed, the international affairs secretary of the Awami League (now banned), Razzak and his associates took the police there on July 17, with information that there were absconding accused.
At that time, they introduced themselves as โcoordinators.โ However, the police members returned that day after finding no absconding accused in the house.
At that time, Razzak and others collected Tk10 lakh by threatening to implicate Shammi Ahmed’s husband, Siddiq Abu Zafar, in a case and arrest him.
The police officers were taken to the house with false information to create panic. Through this, the ADSM leaders showed their power. The victim also got scared and gave them the money.
Then they went to the house twice to collect another Tk40 lakh. Abu Zafar was also threatened with a ransom over the phone.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) Md. Nazrul Islam told Prothom Alo that the students had made the police a trump card to scare the family.
โThey took the police and showed them that we will hand you over at any time. The next day, they took the money (donation). After getting this information, the police kept the scene under surveillance. Finally, when they went to collect the money again last Saturday, we caught them red-handed,โ he said.
Police arrested five people, including Razzak, from Gulshan at around 8pm on Saturday. A case was filed against them at Gulshan police station on Sunday. In addition to the five arrested, 10-12 other unidentified people, including one named Kazi Gaurab alias Apu, have been named as accused in the case.
When they were produced in court on Sunday, the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court granted a seven-day remand to four people, including Razzak, following a police application.
The other three who were remanded are Shakdaun Siam, Sadman Sadab and Ibrahim Hossain.
Another arrested person was sent to the Tongi Correction Centre since he is not an adult.
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