When Shahed hoodwinked four officials of CMP
"I've come from the PMO. I am an adviser to the prime minister."
This is how Regent Hospital Chairman Md Shahed, now arrested, introduced himself to the senior officials of Chattogram Metropolitan Police at CMP Headquarters in 2017 while inquiring about a raid at a warehouse in port city's Khoajnagar in November 2016.
A team of Detective Branch raided the depot belonging to one "Mega Motors" and seized 17 auto-rickshaws, which had multiple chassis numbers, on November 5, 2016. DB also detained owner Zia Uddin Mohammed Jahangir and his staff Shahidullah.
During his visit, Shahed not only deceived senior officials of CMP, but also "threatened" some junior officers over the recovery of the auto-rickshaws.
Meanwhile, once best of friends, Jahangir on July 13 this year filed a case with the city's Double Mooring Police Station, accusing Shahed of misappropriating Tk 91.25 lakh in the name of managing route permits from BRTA for 200 imported auto-rickshaws.
After the case was filed, the CMP officials started to speak up on how Shahed deceived and threatened them.
According to CMP sources, Shahed, using his power, helped lodge a complaint with the Discipline and Professional Standard unit of Police Headquarters against four CMP police personnel, invovled with the warehouse drive.
Two policemen -- Assistant Sub-inspector Md Azmir Sharif (now in PBI) and ASI Md Sadek Md Nazmul Haque -- have already faced punishment following the complaint while involvement of two senior officials -- Inspector Rajesh Barua and Inspector Aftab Hossain -- is being investigated for the last three and half years, said police sources.
The two inspectors are now attached to CMP's Counter Terrorism (CT) unit.
Police sources said after the arrest, Jahangir allegedly pressurised the senior CMP officers to free them.
"After the drive, we had been pressurised in different ways and following the order of high command, we released them under the custody of a lawyer that very night," Inspector Aftab Hosain told The Daily Star.
He said they also released 16 auto-rickshaws and kept one as evidence to verify. "On Nov 6, I sent a letter to the BRTA authorities to verify the authenticity of the seized chassis numbers," he added.
On January 1, 2017, BRTA Assistant Director Towhidul Hasan in a letter said they had no record of such chassis numbers.
With the investigation ongoing, Shahed visited the CMP Headquarters on February 8, 2017. He told the officials that he was sent to the port city to resolve the issue.
Witnesses said he also threatened Rajesh and Aftab, following which Aftab filed an internal General Diary (GD), mentioning Shahed's name.
"Shahed said you are junior officers... Where did you get the courage [to conduct the raid]? I had to come to Chattogram from Dhaka just for this," said Inspector Rajesh Barua. Shahed then went on saying how well-connected he is.
"After a few days, a complaint was lodged against us in Dhaka. It's still ongoing. We continue to face harassment without doing anything," added Rajesh.
CMP sources said during the visit, Shahed took away the remaining auto-rickshaw from police custody. Later, investigation regarding the auto-rickshaws stopped abruptly. Sources said the complaint submitted against the four law enforcers mentioned that they harassed "Mega Motors" through seizing the auto-rickshaws and demanding Tk 50 lakh as bribe from the owner.
The bribery allegation was found to be false during an investigation. The complaint is now under investigation with Industrial Police.
Asked, CT unit ADC Palash Kanti Nath said the officers became victim of Shahed's fraudulence.
VERSION OF MEGA MOTORS
Mega Motors' staff member Saifuddin -- who filed a case against Shahed on behalf of Jahangir -- said, "Shahed pressured the CMP officials so that we believe him. That way he developed a relationship with our company so that he can extort us."
"He came to port city with the help of our former staffer Shahidullah who was fired later," said Saifuddin, also a cousin of Jahangir.
Along with Shahed, Mega Motors also accused Shahidullah in the money embezzlement case.
"Shahed's target was to embezzle our money and he did so by taking Tk 91.25 lakh in 2017, promising to give us permits for operating 200 auto-rickshaws in the capital," he claimed.
He also admitted that several politicians phoned police in favour of Mega Motors after the arrest of Jahangir and Shahidullah.