Tusher-Wife Meet in Jail: Prison officials aided the crime
A probe has found that Hallmark General Manager Tushar Ahmed spent around two hours with a woman at a prison officer's room in Kashimpur Central Jail-1.
It was previously thought that he spent 45 minutes with the woman.
The jail code allows an inmate to meet with a spouse for no longer than 30 minutes in the presence of a guard.
But there was no one else in the room when Tushar met his wife on January 6.
Col Md Abrar Hossain, additional inspector general (IG) of prisons, told The Daily Star that the jail officials were supposed to inform the Department of Prisons about the meeting, but they had not done it. Moreover, the jail officials refused to divulge the information when the department asked them about it.
"The probe report was submitted to the home ministry last week. In response to the report, the ministry last Thursday suspended 11 jail officials, including the jail superintendent, jailer, and three deputy jailers, and recommended departmental action against seven others," said Col Abrar.
Superintendent Ratna Roy and jailer Nur Mohammad Mridha are among the 11 officers suspended.
On January 6, Tushar, brother-in-law of Hallmark Group Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud, was allowed a visitor in violation of the coronavirus restrictions.
In leaked video footage from security cameras, Tushar was seen walking around wearing black clothes in the area where jail officials' cabins are located. Soon afterwards, a woman in purple clothes was seen entering from outside and going to the said area around 12:55pm.
The footage also showed another officer Saqlain greeting the woman and leaving a room after the woman walked in. Saqlain came back to the room with Tushar, and after around 10 minutes, Ratna left her room, and two minutes later, Tushar went towards Ratna's room with the woman. A little later, Tushar and the woman returned to Saqlain's room where they spent time together.
Two committees were formed to investigate the incident.
Col Abrar said his department collected the documents relating to the meeting. "We have found that they [Tushar and the woman] are married."
A former high official of prison, requesting anonymity, told The Daily Star yesterday that this was not the first time an inmate met with a spouse inside the prison.
Sources said, such visits are arranged in exchange for money.
Asked about this, Col Abrar said officers were alerted about such incidents and asked to keep all prisons of the country under tougher surveillance.
Sources in the department of prisons said a step was taken by the authorities in 2007 to create a "love centre" in jails where married couples could spend time together.
An inmate with good records inside the prison was to avail the opportunity to meet his wife every three to four months, they said.
Shamsul Haider Siddique, former deputy IG of prisons, who was in charge at the time, said, "We once went to see the prison system in Iran and saw that they had such arrangements. This opportunity is also available in some other countries.
"After that visit, we made a proposal, but it did not materialise at the time," he said.
Shamsul said the initiative to make such arrangements can now be taken from humanitarian grounds. "It will also help improve the prison environment and bring transparency in the management."
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