In a massive crackdown on the persons linked to corruption in the past regimes, armed forces surrounded his house, disconnected all telephone connections including mobile ones, and finally stepped into his house at 12.10am to cause the final downfall of the man, who once looked untouchable to any force.

At 1:34am, he was led away from his house and put in a car with tinted glass. Then he was whisked away to an unknown destination.

When the endgame came, Tarique looked nervous and unsure, sources who were present during the raid said.

Joint forces also raided AL President Sheikh Hasina's house, Sudha Sadan, twice last night and in the early hours of today in search of Hasina's cousin Sheikh Helal and her close aide Bahauddin Nasim. The first raid proved futile and the forces returned to her house again after 2:00am and conducted a block raid in the area.

During the nightlong raids, forces arrested Chittagong Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, former health minister Dr Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, former lawmaker of Jamaat Abdullah Mohammad Tahir and Editor of Janakantha Atikullah Khan Masud.

Forces also raided the residence of Jatiya Party Chairman Anwar Hossain Monju, Obaidul Kader and some other politicians. Monju was not at home when the raid was conducted.

The raid followed a new list of 50 suspected corrupts that was made available to the media.

Sources said another list of graft suspects is in the wait and will be released in a few days with a view to total purging of corrupt people.

Sources said a team of joint forces went to Khandaker Mosharraf's Banani residence around 8:00pm and left the house with Mosharraf in a few minutes. They also seized some documents from his house.

Awami League (AL) leader and Chittagong City Corporation Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury was arrested at his Chittagong city residence.

The joint forces raided the Shyamoli house of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdullah Mohammad Tahir around 10:00pm and picked him up from there.

Another team picked up daily Janakantha Editor and publisher Atikullah Khan Masud from the newspaper's office at Eskaton the same night.

They took Masud to his cantonment house which the joint forces searched later.

Janakantha Executive Editor Borhan Ahmed and reporter Akhil Poddar accompanied Masud at the time as they did not want to let their boss go alone with the joint forces.

The joint forces also searched for AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader in 16 of the 20 flats on Placid Lake Apartments, house No. 37 on road No. 7 in Dhanmondi.

When Quader was not found in the building, the joint forces went to his other residence in the capital's Segunbagicha area.

The joint forces also raided Jatiya Party (Monju) Chairman Anwar Hossain Monju's residence on road No. 13/A. The army-led raid continued as of filing of this report at 1:45am last night.

SUDHA SADAN
The joint forces went to AL chief and former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's residence Sudha Sadan around 11:20pm last night on information that AL Presidium Member and Hasina's cousin Sheikh Helal and former assistant private secretary Bahauddin Nasim were inside the house.

Sudha Sadan officials told the joint forces that Helal and Bahauddin were not there but the joint forces are welcome to search the house.

The joint forces members then went inside Hasina's house and searched the building until 12:15am.

Sources quoted Hasina as telling the joint forces team, "You can enter the house but the information you have is incorrect."

After the joint forces left Sudha Sadan, newsmen visited the house.

Maj (retd) Moyeen, Hasina's personal security officer, told reporters, "The joint forces stayed for only 15 minutes. They browsed through the visitors' names in the register kept at the front door of Sudha Sadan."

He claimed that the joint forces did not raid the house. "They searched the ground floor only. They did even not go upstairs," Moyeen added.

ntv MD, BNP MP SENT TO JAIL
Tejgaon Police yesterday produced ntv MD Enayetur Rahman, former BNP MP Harunur Rashid from Chapainawabganj-3 constituency and owner of Sky Auto Istiaq Sadiq before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court, Dhaka at around 4:45pm.

The police submitted a prayer to put them under detention saying that the three evaded tax during the purchase of the luxurious Hummer.

Harunur Rashid as MP bought the Hummer on April 25, 2005 using his duty free facilities and sold it to Istiaq violating his bond made to the parliament that he would use it for at least three years before handing it over to anyone else, the police said in the forwarding report, adding that Istiaq later sold it to Enayet.

Advocate Sanaullah Mia moved bail petitions for the three.

Hearing both the sides, Metropolitan Magistrate Salam Mia rejected the bail prayers and ordered for sending them to Dhaka Central Jail under detention.

BABAR'S APS, COUSIN HELD
Joint forces arrested former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar's APS Mirza Haider Ali, his cousin Salahuddin Chowdhury, general secretary of Netrakona Sadar upazila BNP advocate Rafiqul Islam Jewel, president of Madan municipality BNP Dewan Mudasser Hossain Shafiq and a moneylender named Jewel when they were coming out of district ACC office after submitting their wealth statements.

On March 4, Netrakona ACC issued notice on 13 persons including three former lawmakers -- MA Karim, Abu Abbas and Dr Mohammad Ali -- and Babar's APS Haider and the Netrakona municipality chairman Nazrul Islam Khan to submit their wealth statements in 72 hours.

Only six of them, including the arrestees and the municipality chairman, submitted their wealth statement by yesterday.

TWO MORE CASES AGAINST HUDA
Two more criminal cases against detained former communications minister barrister Nazmul Huda were filed with Dohar PS yesterday.

Ayub Ali of Dohar filed a case against five persons including Huda and his brother Kamrul Huda for extortion.

Another case was filed by Salahuddin of the same area accusing Huda and his thugs of beating him severely and making threats on his life in October last year.

CASE AGAINST SALAHUDDIN
Saiful Islam, deputy director of Amin Mohammad Group, yesterday filed a fraud case with Dhanmondi PS against detained former BNP lawmaker from Demra Salahuddin Ahmed.

CASE AGAINST NASIR
Detained former state minister for civil aviation and tourism Mir Nasir Uddin and his son barrister Helal Uddin were shown arrested yesterday in the case filed against them for accumulating assets worth over Tk 24.39 crore through illegal means and abuse of power.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokan passed the order following a petition submitted by investigation officer (IO) of the case for showing them arrested in the case.

The court directed the authorities concerned to produce them before the court on April 8.

Deputy Director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Sharmin Ferdousi filed the case against them with Gulshan Police Station on Tuesday.

The cases filed against former minister Aman Ullah Aman, his wife Sabera Aman and former state minister and Awami League leader Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir were also sent to the CMM's Court yesterday. But no prayers for showing them arrested in the cases were submitted to the court.

CASE AGAINST MIRZA ABBAS
Detained former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas was shown arrested on Tuesday in two murder cases filed with Motijheel Police Station (PS) in 2005 and last year.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court passed the order following petitions submitted by IOs of the cases to show him arrested in the cases.

The first case was filed against Abbas after Rafiqul Islam of Shahjahanpur was killed by a group of assailants on December 19, 2005. The second case was filed against Abbas after Ejaz of the same area was killed by a group of criminals on March 28 last year.

In their forwarding reports, the IOs mentioned that Abbas' hitmen had killed the victims on different dates. Therefore, he needs to be quizzed to reveal the clues to the killings and whereabouts of other killers.

MURDER CASE AGAINST PINTU
Former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu was shown arrested yesterday in a murder case filed with Lalbagh PS on December 29 last year.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Mizanur Rahman passed the order following a petition submitted by DB Inspector Rezaul Karim to show Pintu arrested in the case filed for killing Mohammad Ali, son of Anisur Rahman, a former Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) ward commissioner.

The IO said Pintu may have a link with the killing and further investigation into the case is necessary.

CASE AGAINST ABDUL QAYYUM
A Dhaka court yesterday fixed March 11 for hearing on a 14-day remand prayer sought by two IOs of two attempted murder cases against DCC ward commissioner Abdul Qayyum filed with Badda Police Station in February and March.

The court directed the jail authorities to produce him on the scheduled date during the hearing on the prayer.

MYMENSINGH ARRESTS
The joint forces arrested general secretary (GS) of district Jubo Dal Enamul Haque Akanda Liton, GS of district JCD Rukonuzzaman Rokan and transport association leader Jahangir Kabir when they were returning from the district ACC office after submitting their wealth statements yesterday.

Earlier, the district ACC office served notice on eight people to submit statements for their movable and immovable properties by 5:50pm yesterday.

The joint forces also held arrested former MP Delwar Hossain Khan Dulu on the ACC premises as he was returning after submitting his wealth statement at around 11:00am, but was released an hour later after quizzing.

NASER- ARIFUL'S BAIL PRAYERS REJECTED
The Sylhet Sadar Cognisance Magistrate Devjit Sinha yesterday rejected the bail petition for Naser Rahman, son of former finance minister Saifur Rahman, and ordered to send him to jail in an extortion case filed by contractor Nuruzzaman.

Naser, also the president of Moulvibazar district BNP, was produced before the magistrate court on completion of a three-day remand.

The magistrate also rejected the bail prayer of Sylhet city BNP chief Ariful Haque Chowdhury.

Next target The government has prepared a list of 50 influential political leaders and businessmen for the second phase of the joint forces' anti-corruption drive.