IN an unprecedented move, the Home Ministry has issued a circular suspending Deputy Commissioner of Wari Division under Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mohammad Ibrahim, on charge of facilitating a group of miscreants in grabbing the property of a martyred intellectual’s family in the city’s Nawabpur. The order came after a police probe revealed that Ibrahim did not take any step despite being informed of the land grabbing incident that took place in September last year when he was the DC of DMP’s Lalbagh Division. The land was a vested property and leased to Masuda Khanam, mother of martyred intellectual and former Deputy Commissioner of Cumilla, Shamsul Haq Khan, by the Dhaka DC office in 1975. After her death, the property was leased to her two sons till 2017. In 2018, they appealed to the DC office for renewal of the lease. When the appeal was pending, a group of criminals led by one Javed Uddin Sheikh grabbed the land, looted valuables and evicted the family, according to a case filed by the victim’s family on September 29 last year.
It was learnt that, some 30 to 35 armed criminals stormed the house of the martyred intellectual at 221, Nawabpur Road, tied all the residents and looted valuables worth Tk 5 crore. The accused DC of police did not take any legal action against the grabbers despite knowing that the land grabbers evicted the legal owner of the house, demolished a three-storey building and constructed a basement for a new building, showing utmost negligence to discharge his duty, the probe report said. Police sources said Ibrahim helped the grabbers in exchange of several crores of taka as bribe.
Corruption and illegal activities are committed by police officials almost frequently in different parts of the country. But most of the time they remain out of the touch of law. This particular incident has come to the light as the victim’s family members are comparatively influential than the other ordinary victims. Besides, the amount of bribe was big enough for a DC of Police to swallow alone.
We must say the authorities concerned should take hard-line against the corrupt officials in the Police Department before it is too late.
