Where vehicles die
With all four tyres deflated and almost half of each wheel sunk into the ground, one could hardly tell that it is a Toyota Corona Exiv. The car has no windows, not even the front or back windscreens.
Its rear-view mirrors have gone missing and so has one of its tail lights. Some parts of the dash are broken. Rust, dents and scratches are everywhere and tree leaves scatter the entire cabin.
This apparently grey car, with the plate Dhaka Metro Ga 11-9042, has been in front of the city's Shah Ali Police Station without any care since police seized it in July 2008.
The car was seized as evidence and three people carrying some contraband in it were arrested. A case was filed against the three and a charge sheet was submitted against them the same year, said a sub-inspector of the police station, wishing not be named.
"In the last 13 years, the case has been disposed of but its owner never came to us to get his vehicle back," he said, adding that they have so far requested a Dhaka court five times seeking order to either remove the car or to auction it off, but did not get any directives from the court.
Nearby stands a car crushed almost beyond recognition. One can only figure out that it was a car because from the mangled remains a wheel is sticking out.
Shah Ali police said it was a yellow taxi that met an accident in May 2009, leaving one person dead. A case was filed against the driver over death due to negligence and a charge sheet was submitted in August that year. Since then none ever came to take it back.
During a recent visit, these correspondents found most of the 10 cars lying aground in the station in dilapidated conditions. Police could not give any details immediately about most of those.
"How long can these vehicles be kept guarded? When it is dark, people take off parts of the vehicles," said a constable of the police station.
Not only in Shah Ali Police Station, hundreds of vehicles, seized as evidence and worth crores of taka, have been left to gather dust and rust on the road in front of police stations or on its premises or surrounding areas in Dhaka and elsewhere for years.
Come hail or storm, rain or sun shine, none is there to take care of these until the cases are settled. Eventually, plants start growing and the vehicles become breeding grounds for mosquitos.
The Daily Star correspondents recently visited at least 12 police stations in Dhaka, three in Chattogram, two in Khulna metropolitan cities and 16 other police stations in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Bogura, Kushtia, Jhenidah, Dinajpur, Faridpur and Bagerhat and found the similar pictures.
An officer of Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station recently said there are more than 150 vehicles, including motorcycles, seized as evidence in his police stations. They have kept the vehicles on the compound of the station and some on nearby places due to lack of space.
"We have to deploy extra manpower to guard these," he told The Daily Star.
During a recent visit to Banani Police Station, it was seen that the seized vehicles covered with dust and dirt were lined up on a narrow street in front of the police station. Parts of many vehicles are missing.
Movements of other vehicles on the streets are being disrupted because of these cars, locals said.
Talking to The Daily Star, a number of police officers said most of these vehicles were damaged in road accidents, some were used in crime while some were recovered from miscreants.
Md Walid Hossain, immediate past deputy commissioner (Media and Public Relations) of DMP, recently said bigger items, which are pieces of evidence, like motor vehicles and other things, are kept on the roads and nearby areas outside some police stations due to lack of space.
So, the evidence gets damaged and causes obstructions to movement of people and vehicles, he added.
Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Abu said the courts have no impound for the cars. "After completion of trial of the cases, police can remove those with court orders," he added.
Abu Rayhan Muhammad Saleh, joint commissioner traffic (north) of DMP, said, "The vehicles we seize are dumped at certain dumping ground where usually from where owners take away their vehicles."
Things are done differently in developed countries.
In many countries, including the US, a car is impounded by agents employed by the law enforcement agencies. They are authorised to pick up and impound a vehicle and the owner is charged towing fees and a daily rent for the spot it occupies.
This ensures an owner a process to get the vehicle back in more or less the condition it was picked up as the impound lots are usually well-guarded multi-story car parks or at least a shed protecting the vehicles from the elements.
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