Police probe finds detectives acted 'unethically' in Kafrul club raid

Proof of 'unethical activities of some' of the 11 police detectives suspended over the Kafrul club incident has been found in investigation.

Police suspended the members of the Detective Branch and formed a three-member committee to investigate the allegations. They were accused of posing as RAB personnel and taking away money and mobile phones of members of a club in the capital's Kafrul during a raid on Apr 18.

The committee submitted the report to Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman Mia on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Masud Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

Asked about the report, Mia told bdnews24.com that the committee conducted it 'properly'.

"Some of them have been found to have acted unethically. The process for their departmental punishment has started," he added

The DMP chief did not give details, saying that it was a departmental investigation.

bdnews24.com contacted a member of the investigation committee, Police Headquarters Joint Commissioner Krishnapada Roy, for comments. But he declined revealing the names of the DB personnel against whom the committee recommended action.

DMP Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur Zone) Masud Ahmed and DB Additional Commissioner Jamil Ahmed were the two other members of the committee.

Another police office privy to the investigation findings told bdnews24.com that the committee recommended action against all the 11 DB personnel.

The 11 members of the DMP DB team, led by Assistant Commissioner Ruhul Amin and tasked with recovering illegal arms, raided the club named 'New Wave' at Kafrul. They were in plainclothes and identified themselves as members of RAB.

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The detectives detained four, including the husband of an army major. When the Military Police stopped the DB vehicle at a check post, the detainees alleged they were beaten up and their money and mobile phones were taken away.

Police came later and took the DB officials to Kafrul Police Station.

DMP DB Joint Commissioner Abdul Baten told bdnews24.com on Apr 20 that the DB team detained the four after finding yaba pills in the club.

Quoting the detained people, he said they were detained 'forcefully though they were not involved in any crime'.

Speaking to bdnews24.com after launching the investigation, DMP chief Mia????, too, mentioned the allegations brought by the four detained people.

Referring to the DB version of the incident, he said gunrunning and yaba peddling take place in the club and different types of controversial people commit crimes there.

Puzzled by the contradictory claims, the DMP chief added he ordered the investigation.

The New Wave Club was opened on the third floor of a five-storey building at Ibrahimpur Road in 2005. The building also houses a Chinese restaurant and a dance training centre.

Club President Shafiul Azam told bdnews24.com that some people of the neighbourhood come to the club to play billiard or use its gymnasium. 'Nothing illegal' happens there, he said.

He also alleged some of the law enforcers, who came to the club on Apr 18, were also among those who came and took away club members money in a similar incident on Mar 16.