UP member lands in hospital
He alleges he and a truck driver were tortured in Rab custody
A union parishad (UP) member was tortured allegedly by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Bhoberpara village in Meherpur’s Mujibnagar upazila early yesterday.
He is now undergoing treatment at the upazila health complex, said Abdul Hasim, officer in charge (OC) of Mujibnagar Police Station.
The victim is Dilip Mondol, son of Khokon Mondol of the village, and a member of ward No 2 of Bagoan UP. He is also the president of the ward unit of Awami League (AL).
Dilip said Rab men picked up him from his house around 1:30am and took him to Dakhinpara area of the village where truck driver Monirul Islam was also picked up by the elite force.
“The Rab men then took us to the bank of the Bhairab river at Dariapur village and asked me where I had kept 500 bottles of Phensidyl. They started torturing me when I said I did not know anything about the drug,” said the UP member.
He also said the Rab men hit him in the back, abdomen and legs mercilessly.
At the time, they also beat up Monirul.
At one stage Dilip phoned the OC of Mujibnagar Police Station and a police team later rescued Dilip and Monirul from the spot and sent them to the health complex around 2:30am, said the police official.
Monirul was later released after giving primary treatment while Dilip was admitted to the health complex.
Contacted, Assistant Superintendent of Police Masud Alam, commander of Regional Company Commander of Rab-6 in Jhenidah, said Dilip and Monirul were detained as the law enforcers had information that Dilip was waiting at his home to receive 500 bottles of Phensidyl from Monirul.
“We, however, released Dilip and Monirul later as nothing was found with them,” said Masud.
Asked about allegation of torture, the Rab official said the duo might have been slapped and punched a few times but nothing like torture occured.
The OC said there are no cases against Dilip and Momirul at his police station.
Zia Uddin Biswas, chairman of the upazila parishad, and also president of upazila unit of AL, criticised the Rab men for the incident.