Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, former State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak and 17 others were sued over allegations of leaking and selling citizens’ National ID (NID) information.
The case, filed under the Cyber Security Act, also mentioned 15 to 20 unnamed individuals.
According to the Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka metropolitan police’s Mirpur division, Maksuder Rahman, Enamul Haque filed the case with Kafrul Police Station, accusing the defendants of embezzling approximately Tk20,000 crore through data sales.
The case alleges that Joy and Palak exploited their positions by facilitating the sale of NID information through a coordinated syndicate.
According to the case statement, this syndicate reportedly allowed Digicon Global Services Limited to use NID data for business transactions with various entities, without adequately protecting national security or citizens’ personal information.
The data was allegedly sold to around 182 organisations, both domestic and international, raising significant concerns regarding public safety.
Other notable individuals named in the case include Tareque M Barkatullah, former director of the Data Center; Wahidur Rahman Sharif, director of Digicon Global Services; NM Ziaul Alam, former senior secretary of the Ministry of ICT; and Mahbubur Rahman, former executive director (additional responsibility) of the Bangladesh Computer Council.
Also accused are Abdul Baten, former director (operations) of the National Identity Registration Wing at the Election Commission Secretariat; Ashraf Hossain, former senior maintenance engineer at the Election Commission Secretariat; and Lt Col (retd) Rakibul Hasan from the National Telecommunication Monitoring Center (NTMC); Haider Ali, retired professor of the CSE department at University of Dhaka; Muhammad Mahfuzul Islam, former vice chancellor of Canadian University of Bangladesh; and several former officials from various government departments responsible for handling NID data, such as Abdul Momin Sarkar, Sarwar Hossain, and Aliul Hasan.
