Sohel Rana: The 'millionaire' police inspector

Four flats, a Tk 9 crore commercial building, a number of plots of land, and membership to elite clubs, assets in four different countries and hundreds of crores of taka in assets - this was the life of former Banani police inspector (investigation) Sheikh Sohel Rana, who has been arrested in India after fleeing the country.

Intelligence sources also said the police officer ran three business establishments and a number of dealerships of multinational companies.

Of his four flats, two are in Niketan. Sheikh Sohel Rana also runs a business called T&G, with a branch at DCC Market in Gulshan and another at Garib-e-Newaz Avenue in Uttara.

For his real estate ambitions, he also bought a plot in Sector-3 in Purbachal, two plots in E and I block of a residential area adjacent to Kuril Bishwa Road, and land for a resort in Khagrachari.

According to Indian media reports, the inspector was planning to go to Kathmandu in Nepal.

He reportedly crossed the India-Bangladesh border with the help of a Bangladeshi human trafficker, paying him Tk10,000, said the BSF North Bengal frontier force.

An intelligence agency has learned that Sheikh Sohel Rana had also invested in e-commerce platform E-orange.

Sheikh Sohel Rana, once sub-inspector of Diplomatic Security Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), was also involved in human trafficking, claimed an intelligence report.

The report also mentioned that he charged around EUR 800 per person to send them to Europe.

Earlier, DMP Commissioner Mohammad Shafiqul Islam said Rana will be brought back to the country from India.

"Efforts are underway to bring back Inspector Sohel Rana detained in India. Although the process is not easy," the DMP commissioner had said, adding that investigations into the allegations against Rana were ongoing.

"The Gulshan police department has started an investigation into charges against him. Necessary action will be taken if they report against him," Shafiqul told the media.

On Friday, Rana was detained by members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) from the Changrabandha border in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on charges of trespassing.

Last July, a case of fraud was filed against E-orange at Gulshan Police Station for misappropriating Tk 1,100 crore from one lakh customers. A person named Taherul Islam filed the case on behalf of 29 aggrieved customers.

Three people, including the e-commerce platform's owner Sonia Mehzabin, who is Sohel Rana's sister, and her husband Mashukur Rahman, are now in jail. The two, including Bithi Akhter alias Naznin Nahar Bithi, have fled. The plaintiff in the case said that Bithi is the fourth wife of police officer Sohel Rana.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed told reporters at a function at the Police Headquarters on Sunday afternoon, "As a matter of fact, he (Sohel Rana) did not try to go to India on a regular basis, he tried irregularly. As there is an extradition treaty with India, Sohel Rana can be brought back as an accused."