An inside look at Samrat’s paradise

It would be a dream for a medieval oriental king to have such luxury.

The overly decorated rooftop garden was gleaming with soothing coloured lights.

Leaves of different trees, including Sheuli, Banana and Akashi, were moving under the evening sky of October with the murmuring sound of a fountain.

Detained Jubo League leader and casino kingpin Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat used to spend his evening hours here for entertainment.

On the top of the eight-story Bhuiyan Trade Centre, Samrat's business headquarter at Kakrail, the rooftop has a posh and aesthetic room on the eastern wing.

Samrat used to discuss business and finalise deals with partners in this 20×25 feet room.

The room was locked with a heavy padlock.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) broke the lock during a drive inside the building on Sunday evening and found fancy furniture, including an Almira, bed and cabinet inside the room.

The RAB sources said many actresses and female models visited Samrat here frequently.

The law enforcers allowed the journalists to enter the building after Sunday's raid.

The building looks like any other commercial buildings from outside.

A digital signboard, few political festoons and posters welcome you into the building at the entrance.

But once you have a look inside, it's a different story. It immediately feels like a mafia den, ones only seen in Bollywood crime movies.

It was Samrat's paradise!

It would astonish anyone not acquainted with the excessive luxury of a gangster.

And what is the most common feature of an underworld don?

Yes. Samrat is a lover of animals.

And Samrat too has a brown pet dog named Tommy.

Tommy used to welcome every visitor in the building.

But he appeared sad after the raid, without his master, lying on the floor with his eyes closed.

Halim, a security guard of the building told The Business Standard that the dog was brought here around two years ago.

"The dog used to eat at least one kilogram of chicken per day and Samrat vai always told us to take care of him because he loved Tommy a lot," said Halim.

Most of the floors of the building are decorated with marble-stone, beautiful lights and valuable artworks. There are several oil portraits of Samrat, painted on canvass, depicting him as Muslim sultans.

The whole building is centrally air-conditioned.

The first and second floors were being used as community centres, for the gatherings of Jubo League leaders and activists.

But from the third floor to the rooftop it is well-equipped and furnished.

Samrat had his own lucrative and luxurious master bed, restroom and lobby, as well as other facilities on the fifth floor.

And the bed costs at least Tk 2-3 lakh, according to the manufacturer's website.

At the third floor, there are four rooms and a kitchen.

Samrat used the room next to the lift on the third floor as his office. And the rest were used as conference room and lobby.

A room on this floor was allotted to the Dhaka South Jubo Leauge vice-president Enamul Haque Arman who had been arrested along with Samrat.

Locals said there was an office of an airlines company in the second and third floor. But they left the building fearing Samrat.

The sixth and seventh floors are almost vacant, few sacks filled with potato, lentil, onion and other vegetables were lying on these floors.

Three large deep-fridges were found on the third floor, which was filled with a large amount of Hilsha and shrimp.

A Jubo League member said that whoever came to visit Samrat was welcomed with food and drinks.

No one could leave the building without proper entertainment. The servants used to cook at least 200 people's meal, full of delicacies, every day.