IT is simply strange and also astonishing seeing all three witnesses against a road safety campaigner provided identical wording and allegations in an extortion case. The charge sheets are exactly same in every line and every word. A witness claimed he was unaware about his witness statement while the address found in the charge sheet was mismatched. What a mystery!
Not only that, each statement has exactly 78 words and 13 lines in the exact same order, although two investigating officers of Mirpur Police Station “recorded” these statements on different dates since the case was filed last year. Sub-inspector Bazlur Rahman, the first investigating officer, recorded the statement of the prime witness, Jahangir Hossain bearing no date. The statements of the two other witnesses were recorded by Sarwar Jahan, another SI, on December 25 last year and January 21 this year. The prime witness Jahangir said he informed recently about his witness.
Police pressed charges against the road safety campaigner on May 31 after about eight months’ investigation by two police officers. The accused road safety campaigner denied the extortion charges and said he was a victim of conspiracy by a vested quarter who “instigated the government against him” to protect their own narrow interest.
The motive behind the extortion charges against the road safety campaigner came under the scanner soon after the case was filed on September 4 last year. The complainant of the case, Md Dulal, told the media at the time that he was not aware of the case. He said he only signed on a piece of paper without knowing what was written on it.
It is convincing that police being guided by a vested quarter lodged the false case, arranged fake witnesses to stop the road safety campaigner from his activities though the government made several promises on road safety measures.
This case may be a textbook example of police power in making false and fabricated allegations against anyone of the citizens to initiate legal steps for their personal interest.
