The followers of Indian mafia don Dawood Ibrahim would be known by the name – “D-company”. A teen gang in Tongi of Dhaka, was formed under the same name a few years back.
The locals were terrified of this gang. They would beat up people over minor issues and were involved in drug peddling, mugging and extortion.
Two brothers returning from London, Rajib Chowdhury Bappi alias “London Bappi” and Sajib Chowdhury alias Pappu, formed this criminal gang a few years ago. Sajib Chowdhury has been in jail for several months. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested 12 members of this gang including Rajib.
Khandoker Al Moyeen, director of the legal and media wing of RAB, said in a press conference on Sunday that this "D-company" alias "Daring-company" has 50 members. All of them are aged between 25-30 years. The members of this gang had been involved in all sorts of criminal activities, including mugging, extortion and robbery. No one in the area would dare utter a word against them.
The gang is led by Rajib, 35. He used to get Tk 200,000 to 300,000 through various criminal activities every month. On the other hand, he used to give Tk 300 to 500 to each member of the gang every week.
On 8 December, Prothom Alo published a report on their front page titled as “30 teen-gangs in Tongi involved in several crimes.” This D-company is among those 30 teen gangs mentioned in the report of Prothom Alo. They even have a Facebook group under the same name.
Sajib Chowdhury surrendered a few days after Prothom Alo published that report. He is accused in five cases including arms, narcotics and robbery cases. In his absence, Rajib was running the gang.
Locals said Rajib and Sajib are from Noakhali. They grew up in the Bhuiyapara area in Tongi. The two brothers went to London for higher studies. However, they returned to the country after two to three years and formed the teen gang. Members of this gang are active in several areas of Tongi including Madhumita, Bhuiypara, Nadibandar, Bou Bazar and Jamai Bazar area. There are several allegations against this group including beating people, establishing supremacy in the area and drug peddling.
Meanwhile, last Tuesday they beat up a university student named Tushar Ahmed in a street food (fuchka) shop in Bhuiyapara area. Tushar’s younger brother and few others were beaten too after they went to the spot hearing about the incident. Later, the miscreants vandalised Tushar’s house and their shop as they went to the police station to lodge a complaint.
The RAB official said at the press conference that some of the members of this gang went to a fuchka shop (street food shop) in the Arichpur area in Tongi on Tuesday. At the time, all the seats in the shop were occupied. At one point the teen gang members ordered some seats to be vacated for them. But Tushar and his brother Tuhin refused and were stabbed with local weapons by the members of D-company. Later, Tuhin filed a case against them at East Tongi police station.
Later, these gang members vandalised a tailor shop and randomly stabbed three people there. The other members of this gang are - Moin Ahmed Nirab alias “Don Nirab”, 24, Tanvir Hossain alias “Battery Tanvir”, 24, Parvez alias “Chhota Parvez”,19, Tuhin alias “Tarkata Tuhin”, 21, Rajib Ahmed Nirab, 30, Saiful Islam alias Shaon, 23, Rabiul Hasan, 20, Shakil alias “Bagha Shakil”, 28, Yasin Arafat alias “Biscuit Yasin”, 18, Mahfuzur Rahman Fahim, 22, and Yasin Mia, 19.
All the members of the gang aged between 19-35 years. Despite that, they are being called as members of a teen gang. When asked about this, RAB official Khandoker Al Moyeen said most of the members of the gang started criminal activities about five to seven years ago when they were teenagers. This is why they became known as the members of a teen gang.
Concerned sources said both Rajib and Sajib were involved in the local politics. They were seen in several rallies of the ruling Awami League with persons from various levels of the party. Tongi thana Chhatra League’s general secretary Mashiur Rahman has long been accused of patronising Sajib. Mashiur told Prothom Alo that Sajib was affiliated with Chhatra League once. Later, he did not keep any contact with Sajib, Mashiur added.
According to the local sources, there are some influential persons behind each teen gang in the area. In the meantime, Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) took some initiatives to eliminate the teen gang trend from the area. They took several initiatives including awareness meetings at different areas and setting up close circuit cameras. However, influential people behind these teen gangs were not seen to be brought to book.