Auto-rickshaw driver arrested in Rajshahi
A driver of a battery-run auto-rickshaw attacked a policeman in Rajshahi on Tuesday. He was angry at the seizure of his vehicle, Rajshahi Metropolitan Police said yesterday after interrogating him overnight.
The driver Rafiqul Islam, 36, of Chhoto Bongram area was arrested from his home at 12:30am, RMP’s spokesperson and additional deputy commissioner Golam Ruhul Kuddus said in a press release.
“He confessed every detail of the attack,” the police official told The Daily Star, adding that Rafiqul used an iron rod for the attack, not a machete, as told earlier by the police.
The injured policeman Joy Ram Kumar, who is still undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, was declared out of danger by doctors, he said.
At 1pm on Tuesday, a traffic sergeant seized Rafiqul’s vehicle from Laxmipur intersection in the city and sent it to the city’s traffic police office at Bhatapara.
Thin wheeled semi-auto-rickshaws are banned in the city as these are considered risky for both its driver and passengers, and it is generally made by attaching an engine with leg-pulled rickshaws, said RMP’s deputy commissioner Sazid Hossain.
“Normally when we seize such a vehicle, we keep it for a day and return it to its owner after removing the engine,” he said.
But Rafiqul thought police dumped and damaged his vehicle and got angry, the press release says.
The RMP spokesperson said he decided to harm policemen, as he suffered due to the seizure of his vehicle which was his only means of income.
Rafiqul collected an iron rod from a scraps store of Seroil colony area, then went to the Bhatapara traffic police office and waited there.
At 4:30pm when he saw Joy Ram Kumar coming out of the office, Rafiqul thought he was a traffic policemen.
Joy was actually a police constable of Rajshahi Police Lines, and he was attached to the traffic police office only for Tuesday to help during a drive at Kasiadanga intersection.
Rafiqul attacked the policeman with the rod and Joy tried to save himself using a helmet he was holding. He received two injuries on his head and right hand.
As other police officials came out of the office and locals shouted, Rafiqul ran and escaped the spot on an auto-rickshaw, the press release says.
After arresting Rafiqul, police seized the snatched helmet from his home and the rod from a drain in front of railway officers’ dormitory.
A case was filed against Rafiqul with Rajpara police station.
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