‘Kakon Bahini’ opens fire before speaking, reigning over vast chars of Padma River

Workers employed by leaseholder Sultan Ali Biswas were extracting sand from the Padma River using a dredger in Islampara of Sara Union in Ishwardi upazila of Pabna. Suddenly, a group of miscreants sped in from the Kushtia side of the river on speedboats and large boats, firing indiscriminately. Panicked, the workers ran to safety. Although no one was injured in the incident, witnesses reported that about 50 rounds were fired, damaging the tin fences and roofs of several riverside houses.

The incident occurred on 13 October. Local residents and victims said that following the disputes regarding sand leases, members of the ‘Kakon Bahini’ suddenly show up, firing to spread panic. The gang is allegedly involved in sand looting, extortion, robbery, and land grabbing, with multiple cases filed against its members in various police stations. People living in the vast chars of Rajshahi’s Bagha, Natore’s Lalpur, Kushtia’s Daulatpur, and Pabna’s Ishwardi upazilas are now held hostage by this group.

Most recently, on Monday (27 October), two farmers were killed in a shooting incident by this gang in a remote char of the Padma River in Daulatpur. Two others were seriously injured and are undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. According to law enforcement sources, the deceased were Aman Mondal, 36, and Nazmul Mondal, 26, of the ‘Mondal Group.’ In the same incident, Liton, 30, a member of the Kakon Bahini, was also killed by gunfire.

Locals and law enforcement officials said that the gang is named after its leader, Kakon. The group regularly conducts armed patrols along the Padma River using speedboats. Recently, victims from the area filmed their activities with drones and shared the footage with the administration. Despite this, farmers in the area claim they cannot harvest their crops without paying extortion money to Kakon’s henchmen. Monday’s latest gunfight reportedly started over a dispute about the occupation of a patch of kans grassland.

When asked about the gang, Mohammad Shahjahan, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Rajshahi Range, told Prothom Alo, “Within the next 15 days, you will see what action the police take against them.”

According to police and local sources, multiple armed gangs operate in remote char areas. They frequently engage in gunfights over control of sand and land. After committing crimes in one char, they move to another for refuge—sometimes hiding in vast banana groves or even in open fields near the border’s zero line.

Nearly 20 years ago, two major armed gangs also rose in this char region of the Padma River. At that time, no one could harvest crops without paying their share. Media reports from that period said that conflicts between those groups led to 41 murders. Setting foot on the chars back then was terrifying. The two gangs were known as ‘Panna Bahini’ and ‘Lalchan Bahini.’ Panna was a lieutenant under Kakon.

On 25 April 2005, Prothom Alo published a report titled “Panna Bahini’s terror in 3 villages of Bagha-Lalpur-Daulatpur, 60 families flee their homes.” Shortly afterward, Panna was killed in ‘crossfire’. Similarly, Lalchan and about 25 members of the two rival gangs were also killed. After that, peace returned to Padma’s chars.

Investigations reveal that a total of six cases have been filed against ‘Kakon Bahini’ between June and October this year in connection with various incidents across the char areas. Three of them were filed with Ishwardi police station, and one each with Bagha, Lalpur, and Daulatpur police stations. Two of the Ishwardi cases and the one from Bagha are under investigation by the River Police. None of the cases have yet been concluded.

One of the case statements shows that Kakon’s full name is Md Hasanuzzaman Kakon alias Engineer Kakon. His home is on College Road, Ishwardi, Pabna. Local sources say his ancestral home is in Majdiar village, Maricha Union, Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia. Around 2001, after being accused in a murder case, he moved with his family from Daulatpur to neighbouring Ishwardi. Having completed a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1994, he adopted the title “Engineer” before his name.

After Panna was killed in 2005, Kakon went to Saudi Arabia in 2007. A few years later, upon returning, he allegedly began taking control of the local balumahal areas under the shelter of Awami League leaders. To dominate and control these sand leases, he formed an armed gang. The ‘Kakon Bahini’ has been accused of exerting dominance, controlling sand leases, extortion, and robbery. Everything related to the Padma River’s sand must include Kakon Bahini’s share.

Victims said that as long as the Awami League government remained in power, no one dared to file cases against Kakon Bahini. Only recently, some victims have lodged complaints following several incidents.

Two of the cases filed this year against Kakon Bahini are being investigated by Monirul Islam, Inspector of Ishwardi River Police. He said the investigation has not been completed yet and they have not even received any bail papers from the accused in any of the cases.

Shahidul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ishwardi police station, said the cases were filed in June, so the investigations have not yet been completed.

A murder case was filed last Wednesday (29 October) at Daulatpur police station in Kushtia over the incident in which two farmers were killed in gunfire. According to Md Solaiman Sheikh, OC of Daulatpur police station, Kakon has been named as the prime accused in that case as well.

On the morning of 12 July, Sohanur Rahman, 28, a cowherd from Majdia Chowdhuripara in Ishwardi, went to the field to cut grass. That day, instead of returning home with grass, he ended up in the hospital with a gunshot wound. After recovering, on 30 July, he filed a case with Ishwardi police station against Kakon and his gang members.

According to Sohanur Rahman, that morning Kakon and his men were extorting money from boatmen and sailors on the Padma River in Islampara of Sara Union, Ishwardi, by assaulting them. Curious onlookers had gathered to watch. Seeing the people by the river, Kakon shouted profanities and yelled, “They’ve all come to enjoy the show — shoot!”

Immediately, one of the gang members beside him fired a gun, injuring Sohan.

Local residents said that such incidents occur frequently, though very few result in cases being filed. On 6 October, two people were injured in a shootout in Sara Ghat of Sara Union over the collection of tolls from the Taria balumahal of the Padma River. At that time, the assailants hijacked speedboats and other boats from the ghat. The next day, Mehedi Hasan, the leaseholder of the area, filed a case with Ishwardi police station against members of the Kakon Bahini.

Earlier, on 26 May, a gunfight over balumahal lease rights and sand extraction left seven people injured.

Speaking to Prothom Alo on Wednesday, leaseholder Mehedi Hasan said the mastermind behind every incident is Kakon. In every case, the accused are his men. In one of the cases filed by him, the name of Kakon was mistakenly left out.

Even ordinary working people have not been spared from Kakon’s reign of terror. One such person is Salman Biswas, a speedboat driver for the sand leaseholder at Chakrajapur, Rajshahi. His home is in Dhalarchar, Pabna. He had rented and operated the boat from his area. Salman alleged that Kakon’s men chased him while shooting and snatched away his speedboat. He later filed a case with Bagha police station in Rajshahi, which is now being investigated by the Charghat River Police.

Recalling the morning incident of 5 July, Salman Biswas said, “I was coming from Ishwardi’s Sara Ghat toward Armabaria by speedboat. There was another boat ahead, near Bilmariya Bazar. From that boat, they pointed guns at me. Seeing the guns aimed, I turned the boat around and headed for the shore. When I looked back, another speedboat—a white and black one—was coming toward me. They shouted, ‘Don’t run, don’t run! If you run, we’ll shoot your back!’ They said that and started firing. I drove the boat onto the shore and ran toward Bilmariya Bazar.”

Showing the bullet marks on his back, Salman Biswas continued, “Two of them got off their boat and chased me while firing. I ran into a house. Just as I was entering the gate, a bullet hit me here.”

Claiming that he recognised the attackers, he said, “They were Kakon’s men. I was shot as I entered a house and took cover. Later, when I came out, I saw they had taken my speedboat.”

After receiving reports of such activities by the Kakon Bahini, the army, RAB, and police jointly conducted a daylong raid at the gang’s hideout in the sand lease area of Diar Bahadur Molla Traders in Natore on 17 July. The raid followed allegations of illegal sand extraction from the river and extortion from sand-laden boats. During the operation, law enforcers recovered three pistols, 48 rounds of bullets, human skulls, narcotics, and Tk 1.24 million in cash.

Monirul Islam, sub-inspector of the Ishwardi River Police, who participated in the raid, told Prothom Alo that the place being referred to as a hideout is actually a shed used for issuing slips to sand-carrying trucks. The skull was found there. Firearms and drugs were recovered from that shed and from the house of an accused named Idris. After the operation, the army briefed the journalists about the findings.

At first, Prothom Alo could not reach Kakon or any members of his gang for comment.

Later, after Prothom Alo published the report online, Hasanuzzaman Kakon contacted this correspondent over the phone on Friday evening (31 October). He claimed that their sand ghat at Diar Bahadurpur in the Padma River was obtained through a valid lease. According to him, the ghat has many small partners, which is why they employ many workers. Therefore, he said, it was wrong to label them as a gang.

He said since they operate a legally leased sand ghat, there is no question of extorting others. The allegations of extortion are completely fabricated and part of a conspiracy.

Regarding the allegation of hijacking a speedboat by firing, Kakon said that others had hijacked their boat, not the other way around. He claimed that all complaints and cases filed against him were false and conspiratorial.

When asked about the incident in which three people were killed in a gunfight in the Padma char area, he replied he doesn’t know anything about that incident. He wasn’t there. He hasn’t been in the area for a long time. That case, too, has been filed against him as part of a conspiracy he will prove that it is false.

Kakon also claimed that his maternal grandfather’s family owned about 1,800 bighas of land in the Padma River’s char areas. As a result, whenever new chars emerge, some of that land belongs to his grandfather’s lineage. Even then, they never go to occupy that land ourselves.

He further alleged that since 5 August, his men had been facing persecution. Whenever they try to file a case, the police refuse to take it. He added that the administration had conducted multiple investigations into the allegations against him, all of which had proven that he and his associates were not involved in any terrorist activities.

Following the gunfight between two gangs that left three people dead, the district police launched a combing operation on Thursday in the remote chars of Daulatpur upazila. A total of 120 police personnel participated in the seven-hour operation, conducted from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. No arrests of murder case suspects were reported. However, police officials stated that residents of the char areas were very pleased with the operation and that it would help restore public confidence.

According to law enforcement sources, the police began the raid by taking boats from Abed’s Ghat on the Padma River in Daulatpur. They travelled through various char villages, in some cases leaving their boats and walking 5–6 kilometres inland. Villagers expressed happiness upon seeing the police, telling them they had long lived in fear of Kakon Bahini and other armed groups.

They reported that these gangs had been occupying land, looting crops, and extorting money—and that such crimes had increased recently. Locals demanded that such police operations continue regularly.

Faisal Mahmud, Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime & Ops) of Kushtia, told Prothom Alo at 5:00 pm on Thursday, “I am currently on a boat near the Bagha border. We have conducted raids in several char areas over the past seven hours. The operation will continue into the night. It will not end here. This is not only about arresting suspects—it is also about reassuring people that these chars will no longer be safe havens for terrorists.”

* Towhidi Hasan, from Kushtia, contributed reported.