Nafeez Sarafat-founded university retains school plot, controls public playground in Purbachal

From outside, the playground is barely visible. A piling wall and thick rows of trees shield it from the surrounding streets of Purbachal New Town. There is no public gate. To reach the field, visitors must enter the adjoining university campus.

The land belongs to the government. It has never been allotted to any private  institution.

Yet Canadian University of Bangladesh, founded by Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, a businessman with close ties to Sheikh Hasina's ousted government, effectively controls access to it.

The playground covers approximately 100 kathas. Beside it sits another 171.16 kathas allotted to the university in 2018, land originally reserved for a secondary school.

Together, the properties have an estimated market value of around 300 crore taka, based on prevailing local prices.

The arrangement has survived three governments.

Hasina's administration approved the university allotment. The interim government that followed the July 2024 uprising left it untouched. Eight months into BNP rule, the lease remains in force, the proposed change of land use still lacks court approval, and the public playground has no independent entrance.

The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), Dhaka's development authority, has not initiated proceedings to cancel the allotment. Nor is the property included in RAJUK's investigation into 874 allegedly irregular plot allocations in Purbachal.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), meanwhile, is investigating Sarafat over alleged financial irregularities involving banks and the capital market. It has secured court orders targeting substantial assets linked to him and his family in Bangladesh and abroad. 

The university's Purbachal site falls outside those orders.

A further connection has emerged in corporate records. During the interim administration, two figures associated with the BNP acquired shares and directorships in a company whose ownership structure includes firms linked to Sarafat and former state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat.

Sarafat denies involvement in that company and rejects allegations concerning the university's land.

The records, satellite images and official responses examined by Daily Waadaa reveal how a disputed allotment has remained intact despite repeated political transitions, ministerial objections and a wider investigation into politically influenced land deals.

A playground with no public gate

The dispute is visible on the ground.

When Waadaa visited the Purbachal site on October 28, the university's adjoining playground remained enclosed by a piling wall and dense vegetation.

There was no separate entrance from the surrounding streets. The only identifiable access route passed through the university compound.

An iron grille fence that previously separated the field had been removed. But the surrounding arrangement still made the playground appear part of the university's facilities.

The university says the field is open to everyone.

Its vice-chancellor, Professor HM Jahirul Haque, said in a written response to Waadaa that the institution does not prevent members of the public from entering and claims no exclusive rights over the property.

The physical layout tells a more complicated story.

Satellite images obtained and analysed by Waadaa trace the development of the two plots over five years. In February 2021, the university site and adjoining playground were largely vacant.

By November that year, preparations for land development were visible across both properties.

Images from March 2022 show boundary construction and other development work extending across the two areas. The enclosure remained visible in April 2023.

By December 2025, the university and playground still appeared within one overall boundary. Similar planting patterns and connected civil works suggested coordinated development.

The October 28 inspection found the arrangement largely unchanged, apart from the removal of the iron grille fencing.

That removal followed RAJUK's intervention. The authority met university representatives in December 2024 and subsequently instructed the removal of the fencing, which was carried out in late 2025.

But removing the grille did not create a separate public entrance.

The university had previously sought to formalise its use of the field. On January 19, 2022, it applied to lease the approximately 100-katha playground.

RAJUK confirmed in writing to Waadaa that the land, identified as Plot 60A on Road 107 in Sector 9, has never been allotted to anyone.

It nevertheless considers the university entitled to use it.

The authority cited a High Court judgment delivered on October 17, 2023, in Writ Petition No. 8098 of 2013.

According to RAJUK's interpretation, playgrounds adjoining educational institutions should not be allotted to third parties but should be managed by the neighbouring institutions.

On that basis, RAJUK said Canadian University could use the playground. RAJUK however has not explained whether the judgment permits an educational institution to enclose public land or make access dependent on entering its premises.

It has also not clarified how the ruling applies when the adjoining university site remains designated for a secondary school under the court-approved development layout.

The university maintains that the public is welcome. The inspection found no independent route through which the public could enter.

The school plot that became a university campus

The dispute over the main university property began with a land allocation in December 2018.

Official records show that RAJUK allotted 171.16 kathas to Canadian University on December 2 that year.

The property, Plot 60 on Road 107 in Sector 9 of Purbachal, was reserved for a secondary school under the approved development plan.

Two days after the allotment, on December 4, Sarafat applied to change its designated use. RAJUK's architecture division prepared the proposal on December 24.

Its board approved the change on December 26. The process from allotment to approval for reclassification took just 24 days. But the Ministry of Housing and Public Works raised objections on February 25, 2019, citing directions from the High Court.

RAJUK argued that secondary schools and universities belonged to the same broad category of educational institutions. The ministry was not satisfied.

The proposed change has yet to receive court approval. RAJUK nevertheless maintains that the original allotment followed the prescribed procedure.

In its written response to Waadaa, the authority said Canadian University applied under a 2015 advertisement inviting applications for institutional plots.

The application was reviewed by a scrutiny committee, and the allotment followed a decision taken at RAJUK's 10th board meeting in 2017.

The university paid 15 lakh taka per katha, bringing the total allotment price to approximately 25.67 crore taka. A registered lease was executed on January 2, 2019.

Canadian University says the allotment was properly approved and the registered lease established its contractual rights.

It also claims RAJUK obtained expert legal advice confirming the allotment's validity and recommending that it remain unchanged because the property continued to serve an educational purpose.

The university says it has met all financial and contractual obligations. More than 4,700 students currently attend the institution, according to its management. It has pledged to comply with applicable laws and decisions by competent authorities while protecting students' interests.

RAJUK, for its part, said work on the allotted plot had been suspended because the proposed fifth revision of the development plan remained unapproved.

Further action would depend on court directions, it said.

But the authority did not explain why the lease remains in force despite the unresolved land-use classification.

Nor did it say whether it had undertaken a separate legal review after the housing ministry challenged the arrangement in 2019.

At a parliamentary committee meeting on October 25, officials disclosed that activities involving 1,074 plot files had been temporarily suspended amid investigations into alleged irregularities.

Of those, 874 were in Purbachal. Canadian University's plot was not among them.

RAJUK's explanation was procedural.

The plots under investigation had been allotted under Rule 13/A, a provision governing allocations made under special consideration. The university's plot, it told Waadaa, was allotted through the institutional application process initiated by the 2015 advertisement.

RAJUK however did not say whether it intended to conduct an independent review of the allotment or the ministry's objections.

The political connections that outlasted Hasina

The land dispute also intersects with a changing network of business relationships.

Sarafat, a banker-turned-businessman, built close connections with the Awami League establishment during Hasina's rule. He has faced allegations of using political influence and state agencies to exert pressure, as well as harassing journalists.

The ACC is investigating allegations involving the misappropriation of funds from banks and the capital market.

Following the 2024 uprising, the commission obtained court orders targeting substantial assets linked to Sarafat and his family in Bangladesh and overseas. But the university's Purbachal property was not included.

Meanwhile, corporate records obtained by Waadaa show that two BNP-associated figures entered the ownership and management structure of CDNet Communications, a company linked to Sarafat through its shareholders.

One is the US-based son of an influential BNP leader. The other is an expatriate party figure.

According to documents from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), both became directors and shareholders of CDNet on September 11, 2025.

Each received 625,000 shares with a face value of 62.5 lakh taka. The appointments took place during the interim administration, as Bangladesh prepared for the national election.

The BNP formed the government approximately five months later.

A company return dated December 28, 2025, shows that a firm linked to Sarafat held 44.2% of CDNet's shares. Another company linked to Mohammad Ali Arafat, the former state minister for information, held a further 0.8%.

Arafat had served as chief adviser to Canadian University's board of trustees during the Awami League government.

The shareholding records establish business links among the relevant companies. They do not establish that the BNP-associated directors influenced RAJUK's decisions or the university's land arrangements.

Asked about his business connections with the BNP figures after Hasina's fall, Sarafat denied involvement in CDNet Communications.

In a written response to Waadaa, he described himself as Canadian University's former chairman and dismissed allegations concerning its land as unfounded.

CDNet chief executive Mashiur Rahman also rejected suggestions that the two directors had influenced the university's land allocation or its dealings with RAJUK.

Rahman said the directors had been associated with the company's board for several years, contributing industry expertise and supporting its expansion.

He said they served solely as shareholder-nominated directors, with the necessary regulatory approvals and no other arrangements.

The company records, however, identify September 11, 2025, as the date they became directors. CDNet did not explain in what capacity they had been associated with the board before then.

Back in Purbachal, the university still occupies the 171.16-katha plot designated for a secondary school and the adjoining 100-katha public playground remains accessible through the campus, without a separate public gate.

The lease remains in force. The proposed change of land use remains without court approval and the playground has never been allotted to the university.

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