In a leaked audio clip, the officer-in-charge of Charghat model police station in Rajshahi, Mahbubul Alam, claimed that the minister from the area had brought him there from Gaibandha ahead of the upcoming general election and that he would pay heed to none but the minister.
The district police on Saturday night withdrew OC Mahbubul after the audio clip, where he was also heard seeking Tk 5 lakh in bribes from the wife of an accused in a drug case, went viral.
‘I respect the minister. The minister means the state. He brought me here from Gaibandha,’ the OC was heard saying in the leaked audio clip to the woman.
Asked for comment, state minister for foreign affairs and also the Member of Parliament from the area, Md Shahriar Alam, told New Age on Sunday that he did not have any comment on the leaked audio clip.
He, however, said that he never lobbied for the posting of government employees like UNO (Upazila Nirbahi Officer) or OC, or Assistant Commissioner (Land).
The audio clip of OC Mahbubul went viral on social media on Saturday evening, where the police official was heard asking a woman to pay him Tk 5 lakh for the release of her husband, mentioning that every police official in the district was taking money.
Mahabul was also heard in the audio clip saying that it took a lot of money to run a police station. ‘I have spoken to sir [superintendent of police]. Tk 7 lakh is needed for things like this. I have told him that I will try, as there is nothing but drugs here,’ he said.
‘Can you pay me Tk 5 lakh? I will put them [local drug dealers] behind bars. You will do business [with drugs] from outside,’ Mahbubul also said.
Additional superintendent of Rajshahi district police, Md Rofiqul Alam, said that OC Mahbubul had been withdrawn and attached to Rajshahi Police Lines after the audio clip went viral.
He said that the victim woman, Sahara Begum, wife of Abdul Alim of Chamta village under Charghat model police station, also lodged a written complaint with them and that they would take necessary legal steps subject to investigation.
Sahara Begum told New Age that her husband was a source of police and was framed in a false drug case several months ago over a feud.
‘Following the arrest of my husband, local identified drug traders Mukta and Sabbir have been demanding extortion from me in the name of OC Mahbubul,’ she alleged.
As the duo had also been threatening to frame her in a false drug case if she did not pay extortion, Sahara Begum contacted Mahabul over the phone and later asked her to lodge a complaint with the police station.
‘When I went to the police station with my son, OC Mahbubul told me that he could not arrest Mukta and Sabbir if she did not pay him Tk 2 lakh’, she said.
Sahara Begum alleged that the police official asked him to do drug business while her husband was behind bars.
‘You can do business as your husband did. You will do business and pay me’, she said, adding that the police official informed her that her husband owed him Tk 70,000 of the drug business.
The woman alleged that OC Mahbubul also threatened to frame her and her son in a drug case if she did not pay him Tk 5.7 lakh by September 14.
She said that she could not stay in her house as she had been suffering from insecurity following the incident.
Mahbubul was not available for comment despite repeated attempts over the phone.
Recently, Jamalpur district deputy commissioner Md Imran Ahmed was withdrawn following his statement in a local programme that the incumbent government of the Awami League had to be brought to power again in the next parliamentary election to continue the development spree.
In his speech, the DC also hoped that local MP Mirza Azam would get a berth as a cabinet member in the next government that the AL would form.
Earlier, Jamalpur’s Dewanganj model police station officer-in-charge Shyamal Chandra Dhar’s partisan remarks also went viral in August.
The OC, during a discussion meeting at Dewanganj on August 15, urged everyone to work in favour of the AL in the upcoming national election.
Shyamal was withdrawn from his post and transferred to the district police line.
Earlier, a partisan statement by the police’s Special Branch chief, Monirul Islam, drew controversy as he criticised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government between 2001 and 2006 in an oblique way, saying that they did not want to go back to an era when only electric poles were seen standing without electricity.-New Age
