SI Jahid on 5-day remand over custodial killing

A Dhaka court has sent two people, including Mirpur Police SI Jahidur Rahman, to five days’ remand in connection with the murder of a scrap-cloth dealer.

The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubur Rahman gave the order on Thursday after police filed a case, accusing Rahman and seven others of the killing.

Mirpur Model Police Station SI Rakibul Islam filed the case on Thursday morning, said OC Mohammad Salahuddin.

The eight are accused of torturing the scrap-cloth dealer Mahbubur Rahman Sujon to death after arresting him, his wife and their five-year-old son in a late night raid at their home on Saturday.

The other accused are ASI Raj Kumar, constables ‘Anwar’ and Rashidul Haque and police informers ‘Nasim’, ‘Palash’, ‘Faisal’, and ‘Khokan’.

Of them, SI Jahidur and informer Nasim were arrested on Wednesday.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Information and Prosecution Wing, Md Anisur Rahman said Detective Branch inspector Nibaran Chandra produced them in court, where he sought a 10-day remand.

The court granted five days in police custody for interrogation.

A group of policemen had detained Sujon, his wife Momtaz Sultana, and their son around midnight on Saturday while raiding their house near Dhanmondi's Nizam Shankar Plaza.

Before taking them into custody, SI Jahidur Rahman and other policemen had beaten up Mahbubur, the family alleged.

Sultana said her husband was taken to a separate cell after they arrived at the Mirpur Police Station.

On Sunday morning she was told at the police station that Sujon had died.

Later, police released her and her son.

She told reporters Sujon had been tortured to death by the police.

Police officers had initially claimed that Sujon was a criminal listed by the Shah Ali Police Station.

He was supposed to help in a police drive to recover illegal arms but fell ill after being taken into custody on Saturday night, police said.

Doctors at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital declared him dead after he was taken there in the early hour of Sunday.

Sujon’s elder brother Maqsudur Rahman alleged that Jahidur had threatened to close down his brother’s business if he failed to pay Tk 100,000 each month the SI had demanded.

Sujon was tortured to death as he did not pay the money, Maqsudur claimed.

Police have formed a committee, headed by Mirpur division Additional DC Jasim Uddin, to probe the accusations.

SI Jahidur was temporarily suspended after allegations of torture were raised.

He was arrested on Wednesday after a post mortem report said Sujon had been murdered.

Sujon’s mother Shahida Aktar told reporters on Wednesday night they would not file any case with the police. Instead, they would file two cases – one for murder and another under Women and Children Repression Act – in court.

Incidents of custodial deaths or extra-judicial executions by men in uniform are on the rise in Bangladesh, for which the country has been drawing considerable flak from global rights bodies.