Cops 'torture' bank official for Tk 5 lakh

Cops allegedly tortured a Bangladesh Bank official for refusing to pay bribe of Tk 5 lakh in the capital's Mohammadpur on Saturday.

The law enforcers reportedly threatened him with implicating him in a false narcotics case.

Golam Rabbi, 28, an assistant director of Bangladesh Bank, alleged that he was returning to his Kalyanpur home from a relative's house on Taj Mahal Road around 11:00pm on Saturday.

Some constables, who were in a police pickup truck parked nearby, came forward and asked him to meet their senior officer in the vehicle, Rabbi said. As he went there, Sub-Inspector Masud Shikder of Mohammadpur Police Station pushed and shoved him into the pickup, he alleged.

“The SI first asked me 'how much my job was worth'. He then calculated it himself to be Tk 25 to 30 lakh,” said Rabbi. “You are in a good position. So, pay us Tk 5 to 6 lakh and go away. Otherwise, a case will be filed against you for carrying Yaba pills,” Rabbi quoted the SI as saying.

The cops took Tk 10,000 and a debit card from him and told him to call relatives for arranging the money, he further alleged.

The policemen then kept on slapping and kicking him whilst the pickup travelled on different streets in the area. The policemen released him around 2:30am, Rabbi said.

Rabbi later took primary treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Rabbi, also a former news anchor at a television channel, filed a complaint with Mohammad Police Station.

Asked, SI Masud refuted the allegation brought against him. He, however, admitted that he had a conversation with Rabbi during the time the complaint mentioned.

Officer-in-Charge Jamaluddin Mir of Mohammadpur Police Station said he received a complaint.

Quoting SI Masud, the OC said a patrol team frisked Rabbi as he was out late at night. But Rabbi refused to cooperate. Later, the policemen handed him over to his friends.

Contacted, Deputy Commissioner Biplab Kumar Sarkar of Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police said he had heard about the incident.

Police has already launched an investigation into the matter, he added.