Tea seller’s death: Departmental action recommended against 5 cops

A police committee probing the death of a tea vendor in Dhaka’s Mirpur has recommended departmental action against five policemen for their negligence in duty and failure to keep the situation under control.

The five policemen are: former officer-in-charge of Shah Ali Police Station AKM Shahin Mandal, sub-inspector (SI) Mominur Rahman, SI Niazuddin Mollah, Assistant Sub-Inspector Jogendranath Sarker and Constable Jashim Uddin.

The two-member committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner Masud Ahmed today submitted the probe report to the deputy commissioner of Mirpur division.

The committee was formed by Mirpur division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) following the death of Babul Matabbar on February 4.

Earlier, another investigation committee formed by DMP submitted its report to the DMP commissioner on Sunday citing police's negligence in discharging their duty.

Babul suffered ninety percent burns on February 3 as he fell on a kerosene stove after being pushed allegedly by a police informant. Some cops accompanied by the informant went to his stall at Gudara Ghat in Mirpur's Shah Ali area around 9:30pm on the day to pick him up, said the victim's wife, an witness to the incident.

Babul died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital after fighting for life for 16 hours.

Following the incident, five policemen of Shah Ali Police Station were suspended and Officer-in-Charge AKM Shahin Mondal was withdrawn.