Sultana fell sick on way to police station: Rab

Rab yesterday claimed that Sultana Jasmine, who died in custody on March 24, had initially fallen ill while being taken to a police station on March 22.

After detaining Sultana, a union-level land employee in Naogaon, members of the force were busy printing documents from her phone at a nearby shop for around an hour and a half, on the way to the station, it said.

It conducted primary interrogation and evidence gathering in presence of the complainant and witnesses.

When Sultana felt sick on the way, Rab members took her to Naogaon Sadar Hospital, Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, told reporters.

He was answering questions about why it took so long for Rab members to take her to hospital.

Rab officials detained Sultana around 11:30am and admitted her to the hospital around 1:15pm.

Moin said Sultana had gotten out of the vehicle and walked into the hospital.

Her relatives and colleagues were then informed about her illness, and she was provided treatment at the hospital under their supervision, the Rab official said.

Moin further said hospital authorities in the evening suspected that the 38-year-old woman might have suffered a stroke and transferred her to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH).

Sultana was shifted to the RMCH's ICU after the doctor found signs of stroke in a CT scan, said the official.

She died while undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Moin said an inquiry cell of the Rab Headquarters was tasked to investigate whether there was any negligence on Rab members' part as the woman fell ill while in the force's custody.

Departmental action will be taken if anyone is found guilty in the investigation, he said.

Asked about the injury to Sultana's head, Moin said, "We did not have any information of injury. The postmortem report is important here and investigation is underway. It needs some time."

Regarding the arrest of Sultana, Moin said some fraudsters had assumed the identity of Enamul Haque, joint secretary of Rajshahi divisional commissioner's office, by hacking his Facebook account and also making a fake one. Using the IDs, they extorted money from people with false promises of jobs.

After becoming aware of this, Enamul filed a general diary in March 2022, he said.

A woman even filed a case against Enamul for fraud because the racket was run by those assuming his identity.

Enamul came to know that the fraudsters extorted money on March 19 and 20, and he also came to know that one of the fraudsters was named Al Amin, and later he also came to know that Sultana was involved.

On March 22, Enamul complained about it to a Rab patrol team, and then Rab analysed technological data to detect the woman's location and detained her for interrogation, Moin said.

Enamul himself, Rab's female officials, and witnesses were present during the detention and interrogation process, said the Rab official.

"Sultana Jasmine admitted to her involvement during interrogation in the witnesses' presence. Enamul's Facebook ID was found open in Sultana's phone," he said.

Moin said Rab also found evidence of transactions of lakhs of taka and bank account details from her phone.

Regarding the delay in filing the case, Moin said filing of a case under the Digital Security Act takes time and requires permission.

Complainant Enamul Haque filed a case with the police station with permission later, he said.