In Comilla, an extortion case was filed against Redwan Ahmed, his wife Momtaz Ahmed and three relatives, reports UNB.

Quaiyum Khan of Dhansiri village in Chandina upazila filed the case against Redwan Ahmed and four others, including his brother-in-law Siddiqur Rahman and nephews Sujan and Suman, with the local police station.

In his complaint, Quaiyum alleged that the then state minister for liberation war affairs Redwan had demanded Tk 5 lakh as toll for allocating a shop in the poura market in his name.

Redwan called Quaiyum and his brother at his house several times and created pressure on them to deposit Tk 5 lakh with the bank account of his wife. Quaiyum Khan deposited the money on July 3, 2005 but did not get the shop.

Joint forces arrested Redwan on June 26.

A correspondent from Noakhali reports: Ex-BNP lawmaker from Noakhali-1 constituency Joynal Abedin Faruq and 26 other local BNP activists were sued yesterday for extortion.

Chairman of Keshorpar Union Parishad in Senbagh Abu Bakar Bhuiyan filed the case with a cognizance court in Noakhali.

The other accused in the case include Senbagh upazila BNP General Secretary and Senbagh Pourasabha Chairman Shah Alam Chowdhury and local BNP leader Abdullah Al Mamun.

The court asked the officer-in-charge of Senbagh Police Station to investigate the matter.

In the case statement the complainant said the accused had demanded Tk 10 lakh as extortion from him in 2003 after he was elected UP chairman and on different occasions they forcibly extorted Tk 3.5 lakh from him.

Faruq was arrested on May 22 in Kafrul area in the capital.

UNB adds: Another extortion case was filed yesterday against former MP Dewan Mohammad Salahuddin and his three associates.

Fruit trader Abdul Quader Mollah, also president of Hawkers League, filed the case against them with a magistrate court in Dhaka.

Quader alleged that musclemen at the behest of Dewan Salahuddin demanded Tk 1 lakh from him as toll. "As I failed to give them the money, they attacked my fruit shop and took away Tk 30,000 from the cash-box," Quader said in his case statement.