Two separate cases have been filed against four election officials and an employee on Kushtia for their alleged involvement in National Identity Card (NID) fraudulent.

Senior District Election Officer in Kushtia Anisur Rahman filed one case with Kushtia Model Police Station and another with Kumarkhali Police Station on Thursday. In both cases, three sections of the Digital Security Act have been used.

Kushtia election official Anisur Rahman confirmed the matter to The Daily Star on Monday morning.

The case filed with Kushtia Model Police Station was under Section 20 of Bangladesh Voter List Act-2019, Section 17 of National Identity Registration Act-2010, Sections 420, 468 and 109 of Penal Code of 1860 and Section 24, 33 and 35 of Digital Security Act-2018. The accused in the case are: Deputy Secretary of Dhaka Election Commission Secretariat (Former Senior District Election Officer), Nawabul Islam, Additional Regional Election Officer of Faridpur (Former Kushtia Sadar Upazila Election Officer) Ziaur Rahman, Upazila Election Officer of Magura Sadar (Former Kushtia Sadar Upazila Election Officer) Amit Kumar Das and Kushtia Sadar Upazila Election Office Assistant cum Computer Typist GM Sadiq.

The other case filed with Kumarkhali Police Station is only Kushtia Sadar Upazila Election Officer (former Kumarkhali Upazila Election Officer) Samiul Alam. The case was filed under Section 18 of the Voter List Act-2019, Section 17 of the National Identity Registration Act-2010 and Sections 420, 468 and 109 of the Penal Code and Sections 24 and 35 of the Digital Security Act of 2018.

According to the case, a gang tried to grab a property worth around Tk 100 crore in Kushtia city by forging national identity card. The gang using name and other particulars of MMA Wadud, a resident of 110 NS (Nabab Seraj-Ud-Daula) Road in the city and five members of his family created national identity cards of six people in an attempt to occupy the property.

When the incident came to light, there was a brawl all over the country. Later the Election Commission begun to investigate the incident. The investigation found evidence of the involvement of five officers and employees of the Kushtia District Election Office.

The plaintiff said the Election Commission directed to the Kushtia Senior District Election Officer to file the case on January 26. After the instruction, he talked to the district government lawyer and attracted the notice of the court. The court gave instructions in this regard on March 1. The accused in the case are currently unable to do any official work in the workplace.

Besides, a total of six accused in the case filed by MMA Wadud in his case are currently in jail. When the fraud case came to light in March last year, they were arrested at different times of the month. Ashrafuzzaman Sujan, the convener of Kushtia Juba League and Mahibul Islam, the buyer of the land are the main culprits.

The other whom were used to grab the land are Wadud alias Mintu Khandaker, son of Khandaker Abul Hossain of Aruapara area of ​​the city, Milon Hossain, son of Shalghar Madhua, Atiar of Kumarkhali upazila and his two sisters Sanwara Khatun and Jahanara Khatun.