Former BRUR VC Kalimullah Sent to Jail After Remand

Dr. Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah, former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Begum Rokeya University (BRUR), has been sent to prison following a five-day remand in a corruption case. His application for bail was also rejected by the court.

The order was issued on Thursday, 4 September, by Judge Sabbir Foyez of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions and Senior Special Judge Court.

Kalimullah was brought to court after his remand by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC / DUDOK). The investigating officer, Assistant Director Minhaj Bin Islam, requested that Kalimullah be held in prison. Meanwhile, his lawyers, including Advocates Mohasin Reza, Mahima Bandhan, and Sadman Sakib, applied for bail on his behalf.

After hearing both sides, the court denied bail and ordered Kalimullah to be remanded to prison. This was confirmed by ACC Special Public Prosecutor Tariqul Islam.

Earlier, on 27 August, the court had granted a five-day remand for Kalimullah. He was initially arrested on 7 August when the ACC produced him in court, after being apprehended by a DB team in Mohammadpur, Dhaka.

On 18 June, the ACC filed a case against five individuals, including Dr. Kalimullah, for alleged irregularities and corruption in a special development project at BRUR.

Other accused individuals:

• A K M Nur-un-Nobi – Former VC and Project Director, BRUR
• Md. Jahangir Alam – Former Executive Engineer & Member Secretary of the Tender Evaluation Committee
• Md. A Salam Bacchu – Contractor
• M M Habibur Rahman – Contractor

The accusation states that the defendants conspired to misuse their authority and ignore the university-approved Development Project Proposal (DPP), making unauthorised changes to project designs.

Additional allegations include:

• Execution of contracts worth over 30 crore taka without approval from the Ministry of Education or relevant authorities.
• Deducting security deposits from contractor bills, depositing them in Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs), and allowing the contractor to obtain bank loans using the funds, resulting in a government loss of approximately 4 crore taka.
• Disbursing advance payments to contractors via bank guarantees, despite no provisions for such payments, in violation of standard rules.
• Cancelling the design provided by the first consulting firm and appointing a second consultancy, breaching government procurement rules.
• Ignoring abnormally high tender proposals (front loading) without proper evaluation.

This case underscores allegations of systematic abuse of power, financial misconduct, and violations of government procurement procedures during the tenure of Dr. Kalimullah as VC at BRUR.