Action Follows Robbery at Army Chief’s House
Golapganj OC closed, all cops to be withdrawn
Staff Correspondent, Sylhet
Golapganj thana Officer-in-charge Md Abul Quashem and Second Officer Md Yunus Miah were withdrawn and closed to the district police line Tuesday night in view of deterioration in law and order in the upazila in the past few weeks. Rest of the men at the police station will also be transferred or withdrawn soon, police sources here said. Replacements for the OC and the Second Officer were to reach the thana yesterday, but they did not reach there when the report was filed at about noon. An uneasy calm is prevailing in Golapgaj upazila as police went for "indiscriminate" arrest of people from villages in the upazila after the dacoity at the homestead of Army Chief Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury on the night of April 16. This created a commotion in the area. Police however arrested 31 people, seven of them suspects. They were taken on remand yesterday. But local people claimed that the real culprits are yet to be nabbed. The Sylhet Police Superintendent has announced Tk 50,000 award for information leading to arrest of the culprits. Moreover, police have restricted people's movement after 11 pm in the upazila headquarters and some other commercial places. Police patrol the villages at night. Police officials from the district headquarters are visiting the villages almost every day since the dacoity. On Tuesday, the SP joined an anti-crime meeting held at Dhakadakshin Bazar, a commercial place in the upazila. Additional SP SA Faruqui, ASP (Sadar South) Sarder Raquibul Islam, Golapganj Pourashava Chairman, a number of BNP leaders and UP Chairmen also spoke at the meeting. Golapganj Pourashava Chairman Zakaria Ahmed Paplu told the Daily Star Tuesday afternoon that people of the upazila are virtually hostage to police. "We are passing worst days as regards law and order. Incidents of theft and snatching increased in recent months while drugs were sold openly as miscreants were sheltered by police, he alleged. Elderly Abdul Jalil Babu Miah, president of Golapganj Nagorik Committee, said law and order situation deteriorated in last few months due to corruption by law enforcers. Innocent people were being nabbed in the name of arresting criminals after the dacity in the army chief's village house. General Secretary of the Nagorik Committee said, "We are planning agitation against the deteriorating law and order in the area". Abdul Mannan, Convener of Golapganj Traders Association, alleged at the meeting that police did not take any action even after five incidents of robbery took place in the second week of April at villages near the police station.
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