Fahmi Gulandaz’s reign of terror in Gafargaon

Two walls of the three-tiered boundary wall have collapsed. The house was vandalized while some parts were torched. The two-storey building is under lock and key. People from the surrounding villages came to see the ruined house. An old man named Abdur Razzak of Saltia village said, "Every day I passed this house. I couldn’t ever see anything inside because of the high boundary wall. I heard people were tortured inside the house.’

This house at Bagua area under Saltia union in Mymensingh’s Gafargaon upazila belongs to former member of parliament Fahmi Gulandaz Babel. Since he had gone into hiding after the overthrow of the Awami League government on 5 August, efforts were made to break into this house. In the morning of 7 September, some people demolished two gates of the house. They vandalised the house terming it as a ‘torture cell’. A corrugated tin-roofed house and two cars were torched.  

During a visit on 9 September, three empty iron cages came to notice on the edge of the pond. A visitor said, ‘I heard one of these cages had dogs inside. Those who would show insolence to the MP (Fahmi) would be put inside the cage with the dogs.’

On a winter night in January 2014, Fahmi called Asaduzzaman, then general secretary of Gafargaon Upazila Contractors’ Association, to his home. In front of the youth present at the house, Fahmi asked Asaduzzaman, ‘Will you go down into the pond by yourself, or will my boys force you down?" A contractor who did not want to be named told Prothom Alo that Fahmi asked Asaduzzaman to share 10 per cent commission of the total allocation before the commencement of all the contractual works of Gafargaon.

When contacted on 10 September, Asaduzzaman did not want to comment on the incident, just saying, 'My son still lives in Gafargaon. Don't put me in danger.'

Gafargaon upazila is located under the bank of Brahmaputra.  A dredging project under Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) started in 2019. An official of the project said Fahmi Gulandaz started creating obstacles from the very beginning of the project to extract sand for free. When the work began later (the project is continuing) Fahmi took control of the illegal sand trade in a stretch of 40 kilometers from Dhola area to Kapasiar Tok.  

The sand extracted would be kept at a land nearby the river and later sold in an auction. After the sand was taken by the traders in auction, Fahmi’s associates would dredge the river again and lift sand from the nearby lands of farmers. They divided the 40-kilometer stretch into seven parts and took a large sum of money from the sand traders once a year. Besides, Tk 600 used to be taken from every truck and Tk 200 from every lorry on a daily basis during the sand extraction. This way, Fahmi’s men would collect several hundred thousand would be collected every day from over a thousand vehicles. Pourashava Jubo League’s general secretary Tajmun Ahmed would allegedly control this illegal sand trading. He has also absconded from.

Fahmi’s men reportedly destroyed agricultural land of many farmers by illegal sand lifting. Local journalist Abdul Mannan has a piece of agricultural land near the river bank at Saltia village. Mannan alleged that he was tortured for barring illegal extraction of sand. Mannan narrated the ordeal he faced on 15 January in 2020, "I, on behalf of some farmers of the village, obstructed MP’s men to keep sand on agricultural land on that day. After hearing that, the MP used his men to take me away. They confined me inside a room. Then his men went and dug up the soil of my land and the land of the farmers and threw this into the river. He would have killed me that day if I were not a journalist."

In the evening of 13 June in 2014, a Jubo Dal activist named Shakil Ahmed disembarked from a train at Gafargaon train station. Immediately afterwards, miscreants beat Shakil branding him as a snatcher. As police tried to save him, Shakil was taken away again and beaten. Shakil succumbed to the torture and died. Leaders of BNP and associate organisations at that time alleged Chhatra League men carried out the attack. As police did not take a case over the murder, a case had to be filed with the court.

BNP leaders alleged that Fahmi Gulandaz, after he became MP for the first time, ordered his men to beat any BNP men to death if found by branding them as snatchers. Shakil was killed at the directives of Fahmi. Leaders and activists of BNP and associate organisations could not live in Gafargaon for 10 years. BNP alleged even the party supporters would face torture if they attended any party programme.

BNP leaders alleged that after Fahmi Gulandaz became MP for the first time, he ordered his men to beat Gafargaon municipality BNP’s convener Fazlul Haque told Prothom Alo, ‘We could not live in Gafargaon in fear of Awami League and Fahmi Gulandaz. Yet Fahmi’s men attacked my empty house after 28 October. On the same day they vandalised houses of five joint conveners of pourashava unit BNP.’

Not only BNP men, leaders and activists of Fahmi’s own party would also allegedly come under attack if they expressed any dissent. Gafargaon pourashava’s immediate past mayor Iqbal Hossain (Sumon) was an associate of Fahmi Gulandaz until April 2022. The plight started for Iqbal when a friend wrote on Facebook wishing on his birthday. "Wishing happy birthday to my friend, the mayor of Gafargaon pourashava, I want to see him as MP of Gafargaon in future."

After a month, supporters of mayor Sumon came under attack by the supporters of MP. After the incident, mayor Iqbal Hossain and his supporters fled Gafargaon and could not return.  Mayor Sumon went to Gafargaon on 19 August when the government expelled all mayors of pourashava. Some people beat him up and handed them over to police.

Before this, in November 2018, people involved in Awami League politics in Gafargaon claimed to Prothom Alo that over a thousand people fled the area due to Fahmi's torture. When asked for names and addresses, they gave mobile numbers of 100 such families. Prothom Alo contacted 32 of them. All these families then confirmed the information that they were forced to leave Gafargaon.

Gafargaon Awami League’s former member of parliament late captain (retd) Giyash Uddin Ahmed also did not go to Gafargaon for fear of being harassed by Fahmi's men. Giyash Uddin could not spend a night in the Imambari area of Gafargaon town after Fahmi became a MP. The house was abandoned. In March 2022, GiyasH Uddin's wife Shahana Ahmed wanted to renovate the house. Shahana complained at that time that Fahmi's men barred them.

Fahmi Gulandaz could not be reached for a comment on the allegations as he had gone into hiding since 5 August. But at that time he denied his involvement with allegations of barring renovation of Giyash Uddin’s house or driving out Iqbal from the area.

Fahmi Gulandaz would allegedly ‘punish’ people who did not comply with him. As part of punishment, we would throw some into the cages of dogs. A person who used to go to the house of Fahmi on condition  of anonymity told Prothom Alo that Fahmi threw his driver Rasel into a cage as he was late to go to the house. Fahmi handed down the same punishment to a contractor and a Swecchasebak League leader.

Fahmi Gulandaz showed his annual income Tk 246,000 in the affidavit he had submitted during the parliament election in 2014. He showed over Tk 31.2 million of annual income in the affidavit submitted in 2024. In 2014 his bank deposit was Tk 468,000 had no movable or immovable assets other than a share of 15 acre land.

In the affidavit submitted in 2024, he had a bank deposit of Tk 119.2 million and cash amount of Tk 14.8 million. His wife, who had no money back in 2014, had shown a deposit of Tk 17.1 million.

The locals assume that Fahmi Gulandaz has much more wealth than he showed in the affidavit.