Sayem Sobhan Anvir, the managing director of Bashundhara Group, and four other company officials have been accused of extortion and snatching away the mobile phone of a security guard in a case filed by Rongdhonu Group.

The case alleges that security personnel were assaulted by people who entered a piece of land owned by Rongdhonu Group and demanded extortion of Tk 500 million.

They allegedly snatched a mobile phone valued at Tk 18,000 from a security guard and Tk 16,000 in cash during the incident.

Sohel Rana, a senior executive of Rongdhonu Group, filed the case at Khilkhet Police Station on Tuesday.

An investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made yet, the police station’s chief Humayun Kabir said on Wednesday.

Others named in the case include Jamal Hossain Mia, Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Aminul, and Dulal, who are identified with single names, along with about 100 to 150 more unidentified people.

Mosharraf, identified as a top terrorist by police in Narayanganj’s Rupganj, was arrested with an associate last June. The Rapid Action Battalion disclosed that there were 42 cases against him.

Previously, Mosharraf faced charges of assaulting Rafiqul Islam, the owner of Rongdhonu Group.

Rafiqul, who was also the chairman of Kayetpara Union Parishad, had a long-standing rivalry with Mosharraf, mainly over control of the land business.

The recent case filed by Rana also mentioned the land dispute.

According to the case statement, Bashundhara Group allegedly demanded Tk 500 million in extortion from Rongdhonu Group, reportedly on orders from Anvir amid their ongoing business feud.

Earlier, a case was filed with Khilkhet Police on Apr 6 when there was an alleged attempt to seize land belonging to Rongdhonu Group in Barua Mouza of Khilkhet.

In continuation of the conflict, around 2:30pm on Monday, in the presence of defendant Anvir, approximately 100 to 150 people armed with sticks and local weapons attempted to occupy Rongdhonu Group's land, according to the dossier of the latest case.

They allegedly assaulted security guard Shah Alam and vandalised the group's billboard.

The case documents alleges when Rongdhonu Group security head Shamsul Haque arrived, one of them pointed a pistol at him and said, "Tell your boss, no one can enter this land without paying Tk 500 million. Anvir Bhai ordered this."

Then, they attacked him, grabbed Tk 16,250 from his wallet, and snatched his Vivo mobile phone worth Tk 18,000, according to the charges.

When Khilkhet Police Station's officers arrived, the assailants fled the scene.

Anvir or Bashundhara Group could not be reached for comments. 

The group’s spokesman Mohammad Abu Tayeb did not return phone calls.  

Both Bashundhara and Rongdhonu are mainly in the real estate business and they had a good relationship in the past. Anvir inaugurated the Rongdhonu Group headquarters in the Bashundhara Residential Area in July 2021. 

Joint distribution of relief materials by the two groups in Rupganj was also reported by the media. 

By the end of last year, a video of Rangdhanu boss Rafiqul seeking forgiveness from Anvir by holding his legs surfaced on social media. 

Reports of rivalry between the two groups followed the surfacing of the video. 

Bashundhara-owned daily the Bangladesh Pratidin and the Kaler Kantho, and Rongdhonu’s the Pratidiner Bangladesh have since been publishing reports against each other.