Man dies in police custody
A man has died in police custody after he was picked up by the law enforcers from Gulistan area on Tuesday.
The victim -- Masud Rana, 33, a welder at a steel rerolling mill in Narayanganj's Kanchpur -- was tortured to death at Paltan Police Station in Dhaka, alleged his family members.
Police, however, claimed that he was on drugs and hurt himself at the police custody.
Walid Hossain, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, "He [Masud] was held with 300 pieces of yaba tablets from Gulistan area yesterday."
"He took drugs at the time of detention and got stimulated at the police station. Masud got a bad head wound there."
He was immediately taken to Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital and then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead around 11:00pm, the police officials claimed.
Asked, the police official could not say whether there was any other case filed against Masud previously.
The victim's friend Momin, 36, was also detained with him. Paltan police filed a narcotics case against him.
The Daily Star repeatedly called several police officials of Motijheel Division over phone, including those of Paltan Police Station, for comments, but no one responded.
The victim's wife Rehana Akhter told reporters at DMCH that the police informed on her mobile phone on Tuesday night that Masud was at Paltan Police Station. She was later informed that Masud died.
"I spoke to him at 10:00am [on Tuesday] when he was at the factory for work. Police are saying that they detained him from Gulistan. How did he go there? Police are lying about his death," the victim's wife said.
She added that Masud was earlier detained some 10 years back for taking drugs. After staying in custody for two days, he came out.
"Since then I have only seen him smoking cigarettes. But I don't know if he was used to any drugs," Rehana said, adding that her husband didn't peddle drugs.
The family was at the police station from night till noon. Police also showed Masud's family members footage of the incident.
The incident took place a day after a murder suspect, 25, died in the custody at Bagerhat Police Bureau of Investigation during interrogation on Monday afternoon.
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