Murder accused flees dodging the eyes of cops

In a display of sheer negligence, a murder case accused removed his fetters and fled from a bus after dodging the eyes of four escorting policemen on Tuesday evening. He was being taken to Narayanganj District Jail from Natore. 

Shamim Hossain, 22, sneaked off the bus when it reached Amin Bazar around 7:00pm. The policemen found the fetters inside the bus. 

"They could not even sense when he had broken the fetters,” Mohammad Ibrahim, inspector of Special Branch of police in Natore, told The Daily Star, quoting assistant sub-inspector Ahtesham, who led the four-member police team.

Ahtesham, however, said Shamim jumped through the window when the bus was stuck in a jam near Amin Bazar, on the outskirts of the capital.

"We also got down from the bus immediately and chased him but he disappeared into the crowd,” he claimed.

The ASI said, “We removed the handcuffs and allowed him to sit by the window as he was vomiting and feeling sick. But we could not sense when and how he unchained himself.”  

Natore police arrested Shamim, an accused in a murder case filed with Fatullah Police Station in Narayanganj in August 2014, on November 27 at his village home in Paschim Haguria in Natore town.

A Natore court sent him to jail after police produced him before it.

The jail authorities handed him over to the district police around 12:30pm on Tuesday to send him to Narayanganj District Jail, Faruk Ahmed, superintendent of Natore District Jail, told this newspaper.

Savar police would file a case against Shamim as he fled from police custody, and departmental action would be taken against the policemen for negligence in their duties, said Biplob Bijoy Talukdar, superintendent of Natore police.

Police would investigate how a shackled prisoner ran away from a bus, evading four members of the law enforcement agency, said AFM Anwar Hossain, an additional SP of the district police.

Meanwhile, a three-member committee, led by Anwar, has been formed to look into the incident.       

Natore SB Inspector Ibrahim, however, said as the prisoner managed to flee, breaking the fetters, they would investigate if there was any negligence by the jail authorities.

 "We put the fetters on him [Shamim] correctly, and police took the prisoner after checking it,” said Natore Jail Super Faruk, adding, "A hammer is needed to break the lock of the fetters."