4 cops closed for extortion
Four policemen of Darus Salam Police Station were closed to the DMP's Mirpur division yesterday for allegedly extorting Tk 10,000 and a necklace from a businessman after threatening to frame him for peddling drugs.
The cops are Sub-Inspector Kamrul Hasan, Assistant Sub-Inspector Shyamal Das Bangshi, constables Kamrul Islam and Foyaz.
Following the incident, businessman Chowdhury Moshiur Rahman lodged a complaint with the police headquarters, seeking punishment to the four.
A committee, headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Shariful Islam, was formed yesterday to probe the incident, a day after a newspaper ran a report on the extortion.
According to the complaint, Moshiur went to Kalyanpur Bus Stand around 8:00pm on September 19 to buy a bus ticket for his daughter who would travel to Rajshahi to sit the medical admission test.
As he reached the counter of a bus operator in Kalyanpur, the four policemen took him to another counter and frisked him. The cops claimed they found yaba tablets in his possession.
The lawmen then demanded Tk 1 lakh and threatened to implicate him in a case if he did not comply. As the businessman, a co-owner of a medical diagnostic centre, said he did not have the demanded amount with him, the cops asked him to call his wife to bring in the money.
The law enforcers, who were on patrol, at one stage got him into their human hauler and went around different places.
As he fell sick, he asked them to buy him some medicine for hypertension.
“ASI Shyamal Das Bangshi bought the medicine, but threatened that they knew very well how to deal with a patient,” reads the complaint.
“You are an honourable person and we do not want to disrespect you. Settle the matter on the road. Otherwise, you'll have to spend a lot of money at court.”
At one point, Moshiur's wife was called in and he was freed allegedly after giving the cops Tk 10,000 and a gold necklace. Of the amount, Tk 2,500 was paid through bKash, an online payment gateway.
Contacted, SI Kamrul Hasan refuted the allegation of taking money. He claimed an altercation broke out as the businessman refused to be frisked. He said they finally did not frisk him.
Masud Ahmed, deputy commissioner (Mirpur division) of DMP, said they show “zero tolerance” to any such offence.
If any policeman is found guilty of extortion, he would be given exemplary punishment, Masud told The Daily Star.
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