Former inspector general of Bangladesh Police, Benazir Ahmed, defended himself over media reports against him, stating that the reports published in newspapers recently are false, distorted and intentional.
Benazir came up with the claims through a video message on Facebook on Saturday in response to the recent reports published by several media outlets against him.
He said that some very offensive, defamatory, untrue and distorted news items have been published in newspapers recently against him and his family members.
Benazir, who retired from the government job in 2022, said, 鈥楳y family and my name have been falsely mentioned in reports published in newspapers.鈥�
He was a victim of propaganda by a group on social media from 2012 to 2014, he said, adding that he is victimised by such propaganda once again in his retired life.
鈥楾he information about my and my family's properties outside Dhaka and Dhaka is completely false, while my salary calculations are fictitious and inaccurate,鈥� he said.
He said that the 鈥榩ropaganda鈥� reports did not mention the correct amount of land of the agricultural farm his family owns in Gopalganj. All the land information is mentioned in tax files, he added.
鈥楢part from this, several pieces of information, including the national identity card numbers of my family members, have been disclosed, which has done us serious damage,鈥� the former police chief said.
鈥業 won鈥檛 go into the discussion as to why this kind of news is suddenly getting circulated almost two years after my retirement. However, all the journalists and conscious people in the capital do already know the actual reason behind these reports,鈥� Benazir Ahmed said.
He said, 鈥榃e have thoroughly reviewed the reports published in the media. It contains a total of 45 allegations and defamatory statements. Out of them, 24 allegations are completely false and imaginary.鈥�
鈥楾wo subjects were repeated seven times, and two pieces of information were presented distortedly in the wrong context. The remaining ten facts are inflated and misrepresented,鈥� he said.
A national daily recently reported that a huge amount of illegal assets belonging to former IGP Benazir Ahmed had been found, which triggered huge criticism.
The reports mentioned a lavish lifestyle of Benazir Ahmed, who also served as the director general of the Rapid Action Battalion from January 2015 to April 2020, and his holdings of shares in different companies.
According to the reports, his 鈥榰nusual assets鈥� did not match with the legal sources of income of the former IGP, who received from the government 鈥楽huddhachar Purashkar鈥欌�攁n award given based on 10 criteria, including honesty, morality, and proper financial management.
Of the assets, 鈥楽avannah Eco Resort鈥� in Sahapur Union in Gopalganj is one that Benazir has built by spending a fortune and which has his wife Zeeshan Mirza as the chairman, their elder daughter Farhin Rista binte Benazir as the managing director, and their younger daughter Tahsin Raisa binte Benazir as the director.
The media reports also claimed that the ownership of Benazir family members has been traced at least to six companies, which have an investment of over Tk 500 crore.
According to the reports, five of these companies were founded by Benazir himself: Savannah Farm Products, Savannah Agro Limited, Savannah Natural Park, Savannah Eco Resort, and Savannah Country Club, all in Gopalganj district.
The media reports have also brought allegations of encroaching forest land and building a resort in Gazipur, where Benazir鈥檚 family owns a quarter of the resort.
Benazir owns expensive flats and houses in upscale areas of the capital, while his two daughters own 2,00,000 shares in Best Holdings and the five-star Le M茅ridien Dhaka hotel, according to media reports.
The former IGP also reportedly owns 418 decimals of land on Saint Martin鈥檚 Island, declared an ecologically critical area, in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, media reports claim.
