E-Orange Scam: Bringing back Banani cop from India won’t be easy
Bringing back Inspector Sheikh Sohel Rana of Banani Police Station from India, where he has been arrested for trespassing, won't be easy as there is a case filed against him there, said DMP Commissioner Shafiqul Islam yesterday.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Shafiqul said police are trying to bring Rana back as he is an accused in a case here. He left work on Thursday without permission after e-commerce platform e-orange customers filed a case accusing Rana and nine others.
If it is not possible to bring him back right now, police will have to wait until the completion of his trial there, he added.
Asked about possible actions against Rana, the city police chief said the court would try him in the case filed against him.
Besides, police will take departmental action based on an investigation being done by Gulshan Division Police, as he was absent at work without permission.
Rana, who was detained by India's Border Security Force on Friday, had paid a broker Tk 10,000 to illegally cross the Lalmonirhat's Patgram border, said officials here. He was held at the Changrabandha border in Cooch Behar in the Indian state of West Bengal, when he was on his way to Nepal.
On Saturday, a Cooch Behar judicial magistrate's court placed him on three-day remand in the trespassing case.
According to officials at Bangladesh Police Headquarters, Rana described to Indian law enforcers how he made his way from Dhaka to India. He boarded a bus from Dhaka to Lalmonirhat's Patgram on Thursday and crossed the border around 12:30am, by paying a Bangladeshi broker.
He said he entered India without a passport with the help of an Indian border guard. He had planned to go to Europe from Nepal.
At the time of his detention, BSF seized a foreign passport, four credit and debit cards of Thailand, a credit card of England, two mobile phones, and foreign currency from his possession.
E-orange recently made headlines for reportedly embezzling crores of taka by not delivering products bought by its customers.
Since the filing of the case, Rana had been denying allegations of his involvement with e-orange. There are allegations against him of withdrawing Tk 2.5 crore from the company at different times.
His sister and brother-in-law used to run the company. Both are in jail now.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed yesterday said they would investigate how the inspector fled the country and whether there was negligence of any quarter in this regard.
Benazir was responding to questions from reporters at the Police Headquarters yesterday afternoon after the inauguration of a training programme for all members of the Bangladesh Police.
The IGP said, "It is clear that he has left the country illegally. I spoke to the DMP commissioner this [yesterday] morning about how inspector Sohel Rana left the country and whether anyone has been negligent [in their duty]. We will look into these issues."
"We have a prisoner transfer agreement with India. So, bringing back Sohel Rana will not be a problem. Since he is accused in a case in India, he must be brought back to Bangladesh once the process is over."
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