Al last Premchand Robidas of Goalpara village in Aditmari upazila under the district has got back his 35 decimals of arable land from a local fraud.

Shah Alam, 38, known as a drug peddler at the village, got 35 decimals of arable land of the Hindu family registered through forgery on February 5 in 2015 and recently made an attempt to occupy their rest 81 decimals of land in the same way.

Regarding the matter, The Daily Star on September 26 ran a report headlined "Hindu family under threat", and land registry officials, deed writers and locals created pressure on Shah Alam to return

back the land to its owner Premchand.

Finally Shah Alam returned the land to its owner through registration today [Sunday], said Kamrul Hossain, sub-registrar of Aditmari sub-registry office.

"If the Daily Star didn't publish a report about my plight and stand beside me, it would not be possible to get back my land from the village tout," said a thankful Premchand, 55, after getting back his land at Goalpara village of Mahishkhocha union in Aditmari.

"Now we want to see action against the culprits who were involved with the forgery," said Rafiqul Islam, a villager.

Shah Alam said, "A few locals instigated me to occupy the Hindu family's land through forged registration. I spent Tk three lakh for the purpose, as I had to manage the deed writer, fake witnesses, and land registry officials."

Land deed writer at Aditmari upazila sub-registry office Rokon Uzzaman, who was involved in the forgery, said, "The Daily Star report brought sense to me and I started working to return the land to Premchand from Shah Alam."

District Registrar Sarker Lutful Kabir said, "As per our instruction, Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila Sub-Registrar Yousuf Ali Miah is investigating the matter. After getting the probe report, legal step will be taken against those who were involved in the forgery."