Staff Reporter :
A businessman on Monday filed a case with the chief metropolitan magistrate court in Dhaka against five policemen, including the officer-in-charge of Kotwali police station, on charges of extortion by using threat of ‘crossfire’.
The accused were Kotwali OC Mizanur Rahman, two sub-inspectors Pabitra Sarkar and Khaled Sheikh, assistant sub-inspector Shahinur, constable Mizan and a police source Motaleb.
The court instructed the Police Bureau of Investigation to investigate the case.
The victim Sohel Mir, a cloth trader of Keraniganj, told New Age that some policemen snatched away about Tk 3,000 from him in Waizgath area on August 2.
As he protested against the snatching, the policemen put over 200 pieces of Yaba in his hands and detained him on charge of drug trading.
Sohel told New Age that the accused policemen extorted Tk 3.5 lakh from his family by threatening to kill him in the crossfire.
He was released on the following day as his family paid the money.
The OC and other police officers could not be reached for comments immediately.
Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Lalbagh division) Bijoy Talukder told media that they were yet to be informed about the case.
The case came days after retired army major Sinha Rashed Khan was shot dead at a police checkpoint on Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive at Shamlapur under Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar on July 31.
The family of Sinha accused nine policemen, including the then officer-in-charge of Teknaf police station, Pradeep Kumar Das, for the killing.
The killing sparked widespread criticism leading to the arrest of Pradeep and other cops, who were later suspended.
