Cop 'detained'

SI Jahid

Police yesterday “detained” Sub-Inspector Jahidur Rahman Khan who allegedly tortured garment-waste trader Mahbubur Rahman Sujan to death on Sunday.
They made the “detention” after the autopsy report mentioned that Sujan had died of torture, said Salahuddin Khan, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station.
Jahid was picked up at Rupnagar of Mirpur in the capital, police sources claimed.
Mirpur police also detained their source Nasim after going through the CCTV footage at the police station.
Both of the detainees are reportedly inside the Mirpur Police Station lockup.
Jahid's closure for the second time this year and “detention” does not relieve the victims' families of the feeling of insecurity.
“This closure and detention mean nothing … when my son is lost,” lamented Shahida Begum, Sujan's mother.
“I want justice and all the policemen involved in the killing tried and punished,” she said.
Shahida said Sujan's five-year-old son Rabbi was staying with his maternal aunt. Whenever someone visits him he tells them about how police tortured his father, she said.
Rabbi, who was taken to the police station along with his parents on Sunday, said he had seen how police had raided their house and the brutally with which they tortured his parents.
Rabbi had gone down to his knees and pleaded with SI Jahid to let his father go.
OC Salahuddin said the CCTV footage showed SI Jahid and a team of police brought Sujan to the police station at 1:48am Sunday. Nasim was with them.
The team led by Jahid left the police station with Sujan at 3:43am, the footage showed.
The OC claimed that the police team left the station for an operation and that Jahid told him about Sujan's death at 5:27am over the telephone.
Sujan's wife Lucy was notified of his death around Sunday noon.
SI Jahid had picked up Sujan, his wife Lucy and their five-year-old son Rabbi from their Shankar home in the wee hours of Sunday. Jahid, who went to Sujan's house to extort money, tortured Sujan at his house, in the police van and at Mirpur Police Station, according to Sujan's family members. Rabbi and Lucy were allowed to leave in the morning.
Police sources said the autopsy report, which they received yesterday, mentioned that Sujan had been subjected to severe torture that led to his death.
They said they had “closed” Jahid late Sunday. A closure of a police official means he or she had been temporarily withdrawn from the police station concerned.
Jahid had been “closed” on similar grounds earlier this year. On February 10, when he was working at Pallabi Police Station, he was “closed” for his alleged involvement in the custodial death of Istiaq Ahmed Johnny, 28, a resident of Talab camp in Mirpur-11.
Sujan's widow Lucy had claimed that the Mirpur Police Station officer-in-charge had forced her to sign on a blank piece of paper Sunday morning.
OC Salahuddin, however, refuted the allegation and said he had taken Lucy's signature on a bond, as per standard procedure.  
Sujan's family was planning to file three cases today. One of the cases would be for murder.
They said they would file the cases with court rather than with Mirpur Police Station as they don't trust the policemen there.