OC closed over tea seller's death

The officer-in-charge of Shah Ali Police Station was closed yesterday in connection with the death of a tea vendor, who had suffered severe burns in an incident involving police.

OC AKM Shahin Mandal was closed and attached to the Central Reserve Office of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Maruf Hossain Sorder.

On Thursday, five members of the same police station were suspended over the incident.

They are Sub-Inspector (SI) Mominur Rahman, SI Shree Ram Chandra, SI Niazuddin Mollah, Assistant Sub-Inspector Jogendranath and Constable Jashim Uddin.

On the same day, the tea vendor, Babul Matabbar, died of burns at Dhaka Medical College Hospital after he fell on a kerosene stove on Wednesday night.

He had been pushed by a police informant who was accompanied by some cops out to pick him up from Mirpur.

Babul's son Raju alleged that the policemen did not even help him take his critically burnt father to a hospital.

The police role in the incident has been criticised by different quarters including in parliament.

A section of cops are getting involved in criminal offences despite repeated warnings of stern action from the police high-ups.

At least 20 police personnel, from constables to OC, were suspended or closed for their alleged involvement in mugging, torturing and harassing common people in last one month alone, according to The Daily Star reports.