Even one of their own had to buy his release
Detectives detained a police officer and six others on charges of robbery and took Tk 1.42 crore in bribes from them in 2020, found a home ministry probe.
The detainees were kept in custody at the Detective Branch (DB) office on the capital's Minto Road for a few days and made to pay the bribe, the probe adds.
The ministry probe found seven DB men involved and recommended departmental action against them more than five months ago, but it had not been done.
A team of DB officers detained sub-inspector Aksadud Zaman of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and six others on November 26, 2020, on charges of robbing a migrant worker of foreign currencies and valuables worth Tk 4.78 lakh on the Airport Road on October 19, 2020.
Migrant worker Roman filed a case with the Airport Police Station in this connection accusing unnamed criminals the next day.
At the DB office on November 26, DB Additional Deputy Commissioner (Airport zone) Kaysar Rizvi Korayshi told the detainees that if they could pay Tk 2 crore, he would talk to senior officers and let them off the hook, the report says.
The detainees gathered Tk 1.28 crore and gave it to Aksadud's wife Tahmina Yasmin, who then handed it to a five-member DB team led by Korayshi, the ministry report says, quoting Tahmina.
On November 28, ADC Korayshi called Tahmina and told her that his share of the money was very small because he had to distribute it among many. The officer then asked her to give him another Tk 20 lakh.
According to the probe report, the CID analysed the recorded calls between ADC Korayshi, Aksadud and Tahmina and concluded that those were authentic.
In one of the conversations, ADC Korayshi was heard saying that the money was taken from them for the construction of a building at the DB office.
On November 28, a DB team handed Aksadud over to a CID officer and released another detainee named Golam Mawla.
The other detainees -- Selim Mollah, Ripon Morol, Amir Hossain, Riju Mia and Mosharraf Hossain -- were taken to a court which sent them to jail.
One other man named Harunur Rashid, who drove the microbus used during the alleged robbery, was brought to court by DB officers as a witness.
After investigating the case for about a year and a half, DB Sub-Inspector Masudul on May 22 last year pressed robbery charges against Aksadud and eight others.
Aksadud, who was sacked by the CID on August 18, 2021, for his alleged involvement in the robbery, told The Daily Star that he filed a complaint with the home ministry on August 31, 2021, about the money ADC Korayshi took.
He added that he went to the ministry after failing to recover the money from ADC Korayshi.
A team of detectives arrested Aksadud in the robbery case a few days after he filed the complaint.
On November 9, 2021, the home ministry formed a probe committee with Fouzia Khan, a deputy secretary of the ministry's public security division, and Ahsan Habib, an ADC at the DMP.
Fouzia recently told this correspondent the probe report was submitted to the senior secretary of the public security division on October 26, 2022.
The probe report says the seven DB men involved in taking the bribe are ADC Korayshi, Sub-Inspector Masudul, Inspector Jahidul Islam, Inspector Mizanur Rahman, assistant sub-inspectors Prakash Chandra Guha and Julhas, and constable SM Masud Rana.
ADC Korayshi was recently transferred to the Armed Police Battalion.
The ministry probe body recorded statements from Aksadud, Tahmina, Mosharraf Hossain and the seven DB officers.
The Daily Star has copies of the ministry report and forensic report of the recorded phone calls.
THE BRIBERY
According to the probe report, seven officers, including ADC Korayshi, picked up Aksadud from Malibagh on November 26, 2020, and took him to the DB office on Minto Road.
There, an ADC named Lucky and Korayshi took him to the then DB Joint Commissioner Mahbub Alam's room and accused Aksadud of committing the robbery on Airport Road. When the latter denied any wrongdoing, they made him call a trader named Mosharraf with whom Aksadud had frequent contacts. Mosharraf was told to go near the SA Paribahan office in Kakrail and wait. When Mosharraf went there, a DB team picked him up.
At the DB office, ADC Korayshi told them that if they gave him Tk 2 crore, he would talk to senior officers to set them free. Aksadud then called his wife over WhatsApp.
ADC Korayshi told Aksadud that six other detainees named Selim Mollah, Ripon Morol, Amir Hossain, Riju Mia, Golam Mawla and Harunur Rashid were kept in an adjacent room.
The detainees talked among themselves and arranged Tk 1.28 crore. Their family members gave the money to Aksadud's wife Tahmina.
At night, ADC Korayshi and four others of the DB brought Aksadud to his Khilgaon home and took Tk 1.28 crore, Tahmina told the probe body.
But the DB team didn't release the detainees. Besides, ADC Korayshi took an additional Tk 14 lakh from Tahmina at a place in jigatola on November 28.
About the robbery case, the probe report says the process of investigation and the charge sheet are fraught with loopholes and inconsistencies.
Mosharraf was picked up on November 26, 2020, from Kakrail, but he was taken to a court on November 29 with the record showing that he was arrested in Jatrabari, says the report.
The security camera footage and registers of the DB office must be checked to see whether the detainees were tortured in custody between November 26 and November 28, it adds.
ADC Korayshi refused to talk about the matter with this correspondent.
The Police Headquarters (PHQ) formed a body to investigate the bribery on October 10, 2021.
Contacted, Mohammad Ataul Kibria, additional deputy inspector general (logistics) at the PHQ, said he investigated the allegation and filed a report in mid-2022, but he could not remember the findings.
Belal Uddin, additional DIG at the Discipline and Professional Standard wing, told The Daily Star that the findings of the report were being reviewed.
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