Rogue cop at it again

Over a year ago, an assistant sub-inspector was suspended and attached to a police lines after a police investigation found him guilty of beating up a man and looting money from him.

He has committed another grave crime a year down the line, said DMP officials.

This time, the suspended ASI, Sazzad Hossain Mamun, took money from an alleged murderer promising him that the cause and time of death would be changed in the autopsy and police reports respectively.

A few journalists from some little-known newspapers are also involved in this criminal activity, said the officials, adding that they found the information while investigating the murder case.

Police have arrested Mamun, Nizam Uddin alias Sohag, 28, a sub-editor of the Daily Bartoman Kotha, and Mizanur Rahman Mizan, a senior staff reporter of the same daily, over the matter, Hafiz Al Faruk, additional deputy commissioner of DMP (Tejgaon Division), told The Daily Star yesterday.

A team from Hatirjheel Police Station arrested the three in Dhaka earlier in the day.

Earlier, another team from the police station picked up Kazi Ziko, 40, from Rajshahi, in a special drive on September 8 for his alleged involvement in the murder of his tenant, Kamrul Islam, on August 28, in the capital.

On Friday, Ziko gave confessional statement before a Dhaka court, said police sources.

According to the statement, Ziko, who owns a motorbike showroom in Rampura, found the gate of his home locked after he went there closing the showroom on August 28.

He then asked his tenant Kamrul's elder son Azizul Hakim to open the gate, addressing him Tui (you), which made Azizul angry as many find the address insulting.  

Ziko said after he went to his room and got down, he heard the father and the son rebuking him.

At one point, Ziko claimed, Azizul and his brother Hasib started throwing bricks at him when he was going downstairs. Ziko also threw bricks at them and one of those hit Kamrul's head. Kamrul fell on the ground. He died later, said court sources, quoting the arrestee's statement.

Police said Ziko went into hiding in Cox's Bazar immediately after the incident. He then moved to Sylhet to dodge the law enforcers.

Recently, he went to Chapainawabganj in Rajshahi and tried to take shelter there after identifying himself as a cattle trader, but got arrested, said ADC Faruk.

During interrogation, Ziko told Hatirjheel police that Mamun and Sohag were their relatives. Ziko, his wife Roksana Akter and uncle Sarwar Hossain contacted suspended ASI Mamun and Sohag to change the police report after a case was filed against Ziko.

Ziko and his family paid Tk 1.5 lakh to Mamun and Sohag for covering up the crime.

"Mamun and Sohag took the money saying that they need to pay it to higher officials of Hatirjheel police and Dhaka Medical College morgue for changing the police and autopsy reports," a top police official said, requesting anonymity.

Ziko's uncle Sarwar went with Mamun and Sohag and paid the money in two installments.

While taking payment from the family, Mizan, the other arrestee, acted as Mamun's driver while another man named Md Kajol, news editor of the daily Bhorer Somoy, falsely introduced himself as a staffer of the DMC's forensic department.

A separate case was filed against Mamun and the three others for trying to cover up the crime, said ADC Faruk, adding the three arrestees were later produced before a Dhaka court, which placed them on two-day remand each.

Md Shahidullah, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of DMP, said: "We have already arrested the murderer and the people involved in taking bribe by misusing the name of Hatirjheel police. We are now conducting drives to arrest the absconding ones."

"We are also investigating whether any staffer of the Dhaka Medical College's forensic department has any links with the accused," he said.

On February 24 last year, ASI Mamun was spotted in a CCTV footage beating  one Kabir Uddin Gazi after he got off a launch bound for Barishal.

Kabir later filed a complaint with several high police officials, including the inspector general of police, alleging that Mamun and four others assaulted him and took away Tk 75,000 from him.

Police then conducted an investigation into the incident and found the ASI guilty. On July 19 last year, he was suspended and attached to Rajarbagh Police Lines.