Ex-OC Pradeep, wife sued over illegal wealth, money laundering

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against Teknaf Model Police Station's suspended officer-in-charge (OC) Pradeep Kumar Das and his wife, Chumki Karon, for amassing illegal wealth worth over Tk3.95 crore, hiding information of assets, and laundering money.

Riaz Uddin, an assistant director of the anti-graft agency, filed the case with the ACC Integrated District Office Chattogram-2 on Sunday, ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya confirmed The Business Standard.

Pranab Kumar said the ACC found that they earned the wealth from beyond known income sources.

In the case, the ACC said ex-OC Pradeep, in cooperation with his wife, misused power and hid information about the wealth. They also laundered the money earned through "bribe and corruption".

ACC sources said Pradeep has a luxurious flat in Chattogram city's Lalkhan Bazar, shares in two hotels and a flat in Cox's Bazar. He is also accused of laundering money to Australia and India.

In Boalkhali of Chattogram, there are huge assets in his wife's name. She also has fisheries farms.

The couple told the ACC that their immovable properties were worth around Tk3.60 crore. Among these, there was a private car worth around Tk5 lakh and 45 bhoris of gold, sources added.

Locals said Pradeep built a six-storey building named "Laxmikunja" in the city's Patharghata on around four kathas of land in 2005.

However, Pradeep's brother-in-law Shimul Das claimed the building was owned by his sister, saying that the building was constructed for her sister, Chumki, on his father's land.

The ACC started an investigation into the illegal property of Pradeep in 2018 when he was the OC of Moheshkhali Police Station.

The agency also asked the couple to submit details of their property in April 2020, which they submitted on May 12, 2020.

Pradeep joined police in 1996 as a sub-inspector. Later, he was promoted to an officer-in-charge.

His village home is in Boalkhali, and he has worked mostly in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar areas in his career.

Over his alleged connection with the killing of retired Army major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan, Pradeep was first withdrawn from Teknaf Police Station and attached to the district Police Lines. Later, he was suspended.

Sinha's sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous filed a case with a Teknaf court over the murder. Pradeep was arrested following the lawsuit against him.

He was suspended several times for his misconduct and anomalies earlier. On November 16, 2015, he was suspended temporarily from the city's Bayezid Police Station for harassing a businessman following an investigation.

In 2012, he was withdrawn from Patenga Police Station too.

His brother, Sadip Kumar Das, also worked as an officer-in-charge at Double Mooring Police Station in Chattogram.