Man alleges police kidnapped his mother-in-law, daughter. Police suspend 3, charge the woman

Police suspend three for “conducting operation in an area outside their jurisdiction”

Senior CorrespondentChattogram Bureaubdnews24.com
Published : 6 Oct 2022, 09:28 PM
Updated : 6 Oct 2022, 09:28 PM

A man has alleged some policemen kidnapped his mother-in-law and daughter before being caught by their colleagues and later prosecuted the woman to cover it up.

Police have denied the kidnapping charges, saying the woman was caught with drugs, but three policemen have been suspended for arresting her in an area which was not under their jurisdiction.

The man, Zahangir Bhuiyan, made the allegations at a press conference in Chattogram on Thursday. He identified himself as a member of Sayedabad bus terminal workers’ union. He said he has a car rental business and is preparing to open a motorcycle shop in Narayanganj’s Siddhirganj, where he lives.

Zahangir said his mother-in-law Shahina Akter had gone out of his home with his 5-year-old daughter for shopping on Wednesday morning.

Some people picked them up in a white car around 10:30am, he said, citing a local rickshawpuller who knows the family.

Zahangir was in Chattogram on a business trip. Upon being informed about the incident by his father, he called Tariqul Islam, additional superintendent of police of Narayanganj, and Hafizur Rahman, an inspector at Siddhirganj Police Station.

Zahangir said Tariqul collected the woman’s mobile phone number from him and later traced the phone’s location to Dhaka’s Mirpur.

Speaking to http://bdnews24.com, Tariqul said a person named Zahangir called him on Wednesday and said people posing as personnel of police’s Detective Branch had picked up his mother-in-law and daughter.

“I checked the matter and found that none of our team picked someone up. Zahangir later informed me that he found them.”

Zahangir said people identifying themselves as DB personnel called his wife around 4:30pm and demanded Tk 1 million as ransom. They asked her to hand the money in Dhaka’s Mirpur.

Zahangir then contacted Saiful Islam, additional deputy commissioner for Mirpur zone at Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Zahangir claimed Saiful also confirmed that Shahina and his daughter were in Mirpur.

Following Saiful’s instructions, Zahangir’s wife negotiated with the kidnappers and took Tk 300,000 to Mirpur Beribadh, where police caught the culprits.

Zahangir claimed Saiful confirmed the kidnappers were DB personnel, but asked him not to publicise the incident, saying they were taking action against the perpetrators.

Police gave the family the custody of Zahangir’s daughter, but refused to release Shahina, showing her arrested on charges of possessing drugs.

Saiful told http://bdnews24.com he heard that Zahangir and Shahina are drug traders. He also refuted the allegation that DB personnel were involved with the incident, saying Mirpur Police know the details.

Three policemen of the station were suspended for making an arrest outside their area, according to him.

They are Sub-Inspector Khalid Islam, Assistant Sub-Inspector Mobarak Hossain and Constable Abdul Momen.

Officials at Mirpur Police Station said a team led by Khalid conducted an operation and arrested Shahina and another woman with 2,900 yaba pills in Dhaka’s Kadamtali.

Khalid started a case against Shahina, but he and the two others were suspended for working in an area that was not under their jurisdiction.

Mahbubur Rahman, an ADC of DMP who is heading an investigation into the incident, said steps were taken in line with the rules. An investigation committee headed by him has been given seven days to submit a report.