Photo: BSS

RAJSHAHI, May 17, 2026 (BSS) - A court has sentenced Nripendranath Das, former Upazila Cooperative Officer of Godagari Upazila in Rajshahi, to a total of five-year imprisonment under two sections after charges were proven in a trap case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
  
This afternoon, Judge Mostafa Pavel Raihan of the Rajshahi Divisional Special Judge’s Court announced the verdict.
  
Confirming the matter, Amir Hossain, Assistant Director of Rajshahi District Integrated ACC, said that the charges against accused Nripendranath Das were proven in Special Case No. 01/2020 (Raj.), which originated from Godagari Police Station Trap Case No. 26 (dated: May 14, 2019).
  
In the verdict, the court sentenced him to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Tk 5,000 under Section 161 of the Penal Code, with an additional 2 months’ imprisonment in default of payment.
  
At the same time, under Section 5(2) of the Anti-Corruption Act, 1947, he was given three years of rigorous imprisonment, a fine of Tk 8,000, and an additional 3 months of rigorous imprisonment in default.
  
ACC officials said the verdict came because the evidence and testimony of the case were properly presented in court.

They also commented that this will further increase public confidence in anti-corruption activities.
 
According to the case details, on May 14, 2019, a man named Abdul Baten applied for the registration of the Saromongla Ekota Matsya Chashi Samabay Samiti in Godagari municipal area. It was alleged that the then Upazila Cooperative Officer Nripendranath Das demanded a bribe of Tk 15,000 from him to complete the registration process.
 
The complainant had already been forced to pay Tk 7,000. Later, when the matter was reported to the ACC’s Rajshahi district office, the ACC set a trap.
  
That day around 2 pm, while accepting the remaining Tk 8,000 bribe at the Upazila Cooperative Office, an eight-member team led by Morshed Alam, Deputy Director of the ACC’s Rajshahi district office, caught Nripendranath Das red-handed.
 
He was then handed over to Godagari Police Station and a case was filed.