Another bad cop closed

An assistant sub-inspector of Kafrul Police Station was closed yesterday over allegations that he demanded bribe from an NGO official and threatened to implicate him in a false yaba case.

ASI Aminul Islam was closed after a departmental probe, said Syed Qayumuzzaman Khan, deputy commissioner (Mirpur division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. 

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Aminul has been attached to the DC's office.

On Sunday evening, the ASI forced Proloy Baidya, an accounts officer of Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB), in a police microbus that drove around different areas in Mirpur.

In the microbus, the cop cuffed Proloy and told him that they found two yaba pills in his pocket and asked for Tk 1 lakh, his family alleged.

It comes only days after sub-inspectors Masud Shikder and Arshadul Islam of Mohammadpur and Jatrabari police stations were suspended for assaulting Bangladesh Bank official Golam Rabbi and Dhaka South City Corporation official Bikash Chandra Das.

The DMP suspended the duo following police investigations over the incidents. Both the SI's were charged with beating the victims and also threatening to shoot them.

Proloy's brother Palash Baidya told The Daily Star that Proloy works in Mymensingh. Recently he came to his house at Mirpur-13 on a vacation.

On Sunday afternoon, he went to Mirpur-10 area to buy some food, said Palash, a lawyer.

In front of a shop there, two men started searching Proloy's pockets from behind around 4:30pm, without saying anything, Palash quoted his brother as saying.

“They suddenly shouted: 'Sir! Got it,'” he added.

In no time, the ASI came and together they dragged Proloy into the microbus.

The family later came to know that the two men who searched Proloy were Aminul's sources.

Under the law, sources cannot search anyone.

In the microbus, the ASI slapped Proloy and took away his cell phone and wallet, as the microbus drove in different areas, added the brother.

At one point, Proloy agreed to pay Tk 20,000 but the ASI refused to accept it.

The family came to know about Proloy's detention from a security guard who saw it.

Family members went to the police station but found that Proloy was not taken there. When they contacted the ASI over the phone, he asked them to meet him in front of the BRTA office at Mirpur-13.

Palash said through the intervention of some relatives who work in the police, the matter went to the DC's office. At one point, Aminul apologised to him for the incident.

Proloy was freed around 11:00pm that night.

The family filed a complaint against the ASI that night.

Assistant Commissioner (Pallabi zone) Zakir Hossain, who investigated the allegation, submitted the report to the DC yesterday.

The probe found that the ASI did not take Proloy to the police station as required by the law, said Zakir.

The ASI also had the detainee's body searched by his sources instead of doing it himself or asking other cops to do so, he added.

The AC, however, did not find the allegation of asking bribe to be true.

Contacted, ASI Aminul claimed he was not in charge of the team that picked up Proloy.

He also claimed that he himself searched Proloy's body and found two yaba pills in his left pocket.

He denied asking for any money, but admitted that the team drove on different streets.

Asked why he did not take Proloy to the police station, he said he had other duties to attend.

MORE COPS FACE THE MUSIC

Chittagong Metropolitan Police Commissioner has recommended punishment for three sub-inspectors for their involvement in yaba peddling, reports our correspondent there.

They are Shahdat Hossain, Jewel Sarkar and Sheikh Sajib.

Shahadat is currently working at Dampara Police Lines and the two others at the CID in Dhaka.

The allegation against the three were found true, said Additional Police Commissioner AKM Shahidur Rahman.