Officer-in Charge of Mirpur Model Police Station Salahuddin Ahmad Khan is allegedly trying to suppress the custodial death of garment-waste trader Mahbubur Rahman Sujan.
“Salahuddin and his accomplices are creating pressure on us in different ways. They are issuing threats to withdraw the case,” Momtaz Sultana Lucy, wife of victim and complainant of Sujan murder case told a group of newsmen in the city on Wednesday.
She appeared before the court on Tuesday and made almost identical allegations against the accused persons. She also gave an application to Metropolitan Sessions Judge seeking security of her life and other family members.
“After the killing, I had requested to see the body of Sujan at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), but the OC asked me to sign on a blank piece of paper. When I refused to do so, he offered me a glass of water. After taking the water, I felt dizzy and I signed the paper,” Lucy recalled.
Sujan’s mother who was beside her also said that OC Salahuddin had tried to negotiate with the victim’s family regarding the blank piece of paper. “We wanted to know the intention behind taking Lucy’s signature on a piece of paper, but the OC did not inform us,” she said.
Victim’s family members also said that SI Jahidur Rahman Khan had been asking for a handsome amount of money on behalf of OC over the last two years from Sujan.
When contacted, OC Salahuddin told The New Nation yesterday night, ” I don’t bother about the allegations. I’ve been facing such type of incidents for the last 15 years…It’s nothing unusual.”
Meanwhile, Salauddin, one of the most influential OCs in DMP, has been rewarded with lucrative postings despite allegations against him.
He was withdrawn from Kotwali PS following strong protest of locals centering a rape and murder incident in the area. Earlier, the High Court on May 30, 2012 summoned eight police officers including OC Salahuddin to appear before it to explain their roles in assaulting a minor girl. But he managed posting at Mirpur PS within a span of three months.
On September 17, 2008, some employees of Dhaka Deputy Commissioner’s office staged a sit-in to protest an assault on one of their colleagues by Salahuddin, the then OC at South Keraniganj Police Station. Later, he apologised to the DC for his misconduct , sources alleged.
In 2007, when he was OC of Hazaribagh thana, he was admonished and suspended temporarily several times due to misconduct and abuse of power.
The Anti Corruption Commission [ACC] conducted an investigation against him from 2010 to 2011 for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was asked by ACC to give a statement of his wealth and income within a stipulated time, it should be recalled.
Back after the 1/11 government took over power, he was transferred to the Rajshahi Range. When Awami League government came to power he was transferred to Keraniganj in Dhaka.
Nibaran Chandra Barman, Inspector of Detective Branch and IO of the case, said, “Jahid admitted to torturing Sujan in police custody and the investigators were in progress to unveil whether he acted alone or was following orders from any superior official.”
Jahid had been “closed” on February 10 at Pallabi Police Station for his alleged involvement in the custodial death of Istiaq Ahmed Johny, 28, a resident of Talab camp at Mirpur-Section-11, it should be recalled.
