Chakaria OC, others sued for killing expat after failed extortion attempt

The officer-in-charge (OC) of Chakaria Police Station and in-charge of Harbang Police Outpost under Cox's Bazar district have been sued for picking up an expatriate from Chattogram's Patiya upazila and killing him in a shootout after failing to extort Tk 50 lakh from his family.

The victim's maternal uncle Ahmed Nabi filed the case yesterday with the court of Patiya Judicial Magistrate Bishesshar Singha, accusing OC Habibur Rahman and Inspector Aminul Islam, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.

"Taking the case into cognisance, the court ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Chattogram to investigate the case," Advocate Nur Meah, the plaintiff's lawyer, told The Daily Star.

In the case, 10 to 15 unnamed police were also shown accused, he said. Nine persons were made witnesses in the case.

According to the case statement, victim Md Jafar (37), an expatriate Bangladeshi in Oman, returned to the country on March 12. As international flights had been suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he could not leave the country and remained at his house in Kachuai union under Patiya upazila.

On July 29, a team of police led by OC Habibur Rahman and Inspector Aminul raided Jafar's house in the morning and forcibly picked him up with handcuff on a vehicle and went to Cox's Bazar.

Later, the duo called the victim's wife several times over phone and told her that her husband is a yaba peddler. If the family wanted him alive, they would have to give Tk 50 lakh to police, otherwise he would be killed in crossfire, said the case statement.

However, the family members denied giving the amount.

The case documents also said despite repeated plea of the victim's family to set him free, police did not pay any heed to them and on July 31 victim's family was informed that Jafar was killed in the crossfire and his body was kept at Cox's Bazar Medical College Hospital morgue.

At the hospital, two constables of Chakaria Police Station handed over the body to the victim's family.

Victim's maternal uncle Ahmed Nabi said they want justice as an innocent man was killed in the name of crossfire by policemen.