Chairman of Ehsan Group Ragib Hasan and an associate were arrested on Friday by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on charges of misappropriating Tk 17,000 crore.

He was arrested from the capital’s Topkhana Road on Thursday with Abul Bashar Khan, said a press release from Rab headquarters on Friday.

According to official sources, Ragib, once the Imam of a mosque, joined a Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) company and set up Ehsan Group of Companies in 2010 based in Pirojpur.

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Starting with a real estate company first, he later formed 17 firms under the group’s name.

Many cases were filed against the group on charges of embezzlement of money from thousands of people promising to run the company according to Islamic Shariah law and offering them a high profit.

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During the interrogation Ragib confessed collecting Tk 1.1 crore from over one lakh members and clients of the 17 organisations under Ehsan Group. The group had almost 300 employees who also fell victim to its trap as they did not get any salary, the release also said.