SI closed for bribery

A sub-inspector (SI) of Magura police was closed to the district police lines in connection with arresting four innocent people and releasing them after taking bribes from them during the recent countrywide special drive against militants by police.

Police said a Bangla daily published a report on this incident on June 18, quoting one of the victims. Nimoy Chandra Devnath of Magura Sadar Police Station was closed after the allegation was found to be true in the primary enquiry.  

Nitish Chandra of Berakchhi village in Sadar upazila was one of the victims.

According to the allegation, a team led by SI Nimoy raided Berakchhi on the night of June 12 and picked up the four around 10:30pm.

They were kept in police station lock-up the whole night though there was no case against them.

The next morning, Nimoy demanded Tk 2,500 from each to release them and threatened to produce them before a court as militant suspects if the money was not given to him.

Abdus Salam, a member of Jogdal Union Parishad and also an Awami League activist, went to the police station to talk about the matter.

Salam managed the money from relatives of the victims and gave it to another SI of the police station Anisur Rahman as per Nimoy's instructions over the phone. Nimoy was not present at the police station at that time. The four were freed after Tk 7,400 was paid to Anisur. 

After instructions from the higher authorities, Superintendent of Police in Magura AKM Ehsan Ullah ordered Additional Superintendent of Police Toriqul Islam to investigate the incident. 

After a probe, the allegation was found to be true, said Toriqul.

Toriqul then informed the SP, now in Dhaka, about the matter and the SP ordered him to close Nimoy to the district police lines on Sunday night.

The Additional SP also admitted that the name of SI Anisur was mentioned in the allegation. They would look into the matter.

“My enquiry is going on and I will submit a report after a complete investigation into the incident,” he said.

However, this correspondent could not contact Anisur for his comments as his mobile phone set was found switched-off.

Contacted, SP AKM Ehsan Ullah said they ordered their force members to arrest the militant suspects only, not to harass innocent people.

“Now, an extensive probe will be conducted in this regard, and departmental action will be taken against him [SI Nimoy],” the SP told this correspondent over the phone.

Contacted over the phone, Nimoy denied taking any bribe. He said he arrested the four, but knew nothing about their release.

He was not at the police station when the four were freed, he claimed.    

Meanwhile, ASI Malek of Naldanga Police Station in Natore was transferred to Range Reserve Force, a day after he demanded Tk 20,000 from a union parishad chairman for the release of an arrestee during the special drive.