Ex-Rab official sent to jail

Lt Col Zulfiqar

A court here yesterday sent Lt Col (sacked) Zulfiqar Ali Majumder, former commanding officer of Rab-7, to jail in connection with a robbery case filed with Anwara Police Station.
Chittagong judicial magistrate's court passed the order after Anwara police produced him before it at 3:50pm.
Police filed a prayer seeking a seven-day remand for interrogation.
The court fixed Monday for remand hearing as police failed to submit the original case document before it, said court sources.
Zulfiqar was picked up from one of his relatives' house on Daktarer Goli in the capital's Moghbazar area around 4:00am on Thursday.
Plainclothes members of Rapid Action Battalion-7 on November 4 last year entered the Talsara Darbar Sharif in Anwara upazila and kept Pir (religious leader) Ahammed Safa Shah confined to a room at gunpoint, according to case statement.
The law enforcers broke three cupboards open and looted Tk 2.07 crore kept in six travel bags.
Four months later, driver of the shrine Idris Ali filed the case accusing 10 Rab men including Zulfiqar and two of their informants.
Arguing for the remand, investigation officer (IO) of the case Inspector Abdus Samad said the accused looted Tk 2.07 crore and shared the amount with his team members.
Police earlier arrested three other accused, who have confessed their involvement in the robbery to a magistrate under article 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The three said Zulfiqar was involved in the crime and that is why the accused should be remanded to reveal how they distributed the money, pleaded the IO.
The lawyers of the accused argued that Zulfiqar was not named in the First Information Report (FIR) and he has been sued as part of a conspiracy. The case was lodged by the driver of the shrine after several months of the incident.
They also said neither the Pir of the shrine nor any member of the shrine committee has filed the case. They prayed for granting bail to Zulfiqar.
The Rab authorities sent the 10 accused back to their mother organisations after a departmental investigation found them guilty of robbery.
Later the army carried out a departmental investigation and sacked Zulfiqar.
ZULFIQAR KEEPS MUM
The former Rab official on Thursday refrained from making any comment about the robbery charges brought against him.
“I was the commanding officer of Rab-7 when a routine operation was conducted at Talsara Darbar Sharif on November 4 last year,” Zulfiqar told newsmen at Anwara Police Station.
Asked whether he was involved in the robbery, he said, “I won't say anything about the matter…. I will tell the court whatever I have to.”