While there has been much speculation about top Ulfa commander Paresh Baruah’s business interests in Bangladesh, Indian intelligence agencies have prepared a detailed report with graphic details about Baruah’s investments and income. The explosive report, accessed by this newspaper, shows Baruah has investments in real estate, the health sector, textiles, shipping, power projects and restaurants.
Highly-placed intelligence sources said even Bangladesh’s Counter-Intelligence Bureau was involved in this exercise, which revealed Baruah has invested over $20 million in various companies in Bangladesh under false identities.
Of this, $14 million was pumped into three Dhaka-based real estate firms — Basundhara Real Estate, Eastern Housing Project and Jamuna Group Housing Project — under the name of Karujjaman, a London businessman. In Basundhara, Baruah has a 17 per cent stake with an investment of $7 million; while in Eastern Housing he has a nine per cent stake with an investment of $4 million; while in Jamuna he has a two per cent stake by investing $3 million.
Under the name of Jumen, a businessman from Dubai, Baruah has invested $200,000 in Samrita Hospital, Dhaka, in which he has 30 per cent. The hospital is owned by one Dr Jahid Hassan. In Kasem Textiles, owned by AKM Maidul Islam, Baruah has a 30 per cent stake with an investment of $1.7 million. In Chowdhury Shipping he has a 30 per cent stake with an investment of $2.5 million.
Baruah also has a 40 per cent share in Dhaka’s famous Chinese restaurant, Wimfray, in which he invested $100,000. Dhaka has assured New Delhi it will crack down on these outfits.