DHAKA: Bangladesh has written to authorities in Dubai to seek details about reported links of Tareq Rahman, son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, with Indian underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
The communication from top intelligence outfit Directorate General of Field Intelligence (DGFI) was sent earlier this week, media reports said.
"The intelligence agencies will try to find out whether media reports on Tareq Rahman's alleged link with Dawood Ibrahim are correct," New Age newspaper quoted communications adviser MA Matin as saying.
The communication also seeks information about the Dawood connections of Lutfozzaman Babar, home minister in the Zia government and a Tareq confidante.
Also being probed are the links of Asghar Ali Lobbie, a former lawmaker of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headed by Zia of which Tareq is a joint general secretary. Lobbie owns Hawa Bhavan, where BNP's headquarter is located.
Tareq and Lobbie are in jail awaiting prosecution.
Bangladesh authorities have pressed into action after media reports about Tareq's links and his meeting with Dawood in Dubai. According to the reports, at least one Tareq-Dawood meeting in Dubai last March has been confirmed.
Tareq had then reportedly met Dawood to import arms illegally for use against opposition parties in the run-up to the now-postponed elections.
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina escaped three attempts on her, while 22 Awami League workers died in a rally and a former minister SMA Kibria was killed in a grenade attack during the Zia rule (2001-06).
After the meeting, Tareq reportedly also struck a number of deals and purchased a property in Dubai being managed by Dawood for $60 million.
Informed sources here say documents seized from the prime minister's office revealed that the then National Security and Intelligence (NSI) chief Maj Gen. Rezzakul Haider Choudhury accompanied Tareq to the meeting with Dawood. The government picked up Rezzakul Haider's expenses.
He was removed from the post and later sacked by the present caretaker government.
Tareq's residence in Bonani, Dhaka's upscale residential area, was raided last week by police and intelligence agencies.
Media reports have said that Dawood lives in Karachi under the protection of the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI.
