University teacher terrified as son of accused criminal turns up at his house

An associate professor of Sher-e-Bangladesh Agricultural University in the capital lives with his family in Adabor. At 9:30pm on 1 February this year he was returning home from university by a local bus. He sat at a window seat on the right of the bus.

The bus slowed speed to pick up and drop passengers at Shyamoli Square. The university teacher had an expensive mobile phone in his right hand. Suddenly a youth from outside the bus struck him on his hand with a large knife. The youth was accompanied by another youth. They snatched the mobile phone from his hand and fled.

Having been hit hard on his hand and his phone being snatched away, the teacher was in a state of shock and alarm. He began shouting, telling the driver to stop the bus.

The bus stopped a short distance away and he rushed out of the bus to the spot where his phone had been snatched (at Shyamoli Square). He tried to find the youth who had snatched his phone.

He wandered around Shyamoli Square for half an hour. Not finding the snatchers, he returned home by rickshaw.

The teacher had SIMs of two operators in his snatched mobile phone. At home he used his wife's mobile phone to call both the operators and told them that his phone had been stolen and they should block the numbers.

After midnight he used his wife's phone to call his numbers, just to check if they had been blocked. The phone rang, but on one answered and that made him even more anxious.

The next morning after 9:00am he went to the bank and checked his account statement. The statement indicated that the snatchers had used his phone apps to withdraw Tk 60,000 from his account. They used both the phone numbers to withdraw this amount.

From the bank, the teacher went straight to the Adabor police station. The police told him the scene of the crime was Shyamoli Square which was covered by the Mohammedpur police station. They advised him to go there.

He went to the Mohammedpur police station where he filed a case under the Penal Code and the Cyber Security Act.

Based on the numbers of the two mobile phones to where the money was transferred from the bank, a certain Kamal Hossain was named as the accused in the case along with certain unidentified persons.

After the case was filed, the police launched a drive and arrested two persons, Kamal Hossain (51) and Rusel Mia (21).     

According to the police, interrogations revealed that Kamal worked as a security guard at a private bank and was also a member of an organised criminal gang. Rusel had no specific profession. The police learnt from Kamal that the head of the criminal gang was a certain Samrat. The police have not been able to nab Samrat as yet.

A few days after Kamal and Rusel were arrested, the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University teacher was at home. The security guard of the house came and said two persons had come to meet him.

He met the two persons and talked to them. One of them introduced himself as the arrested Kamal's son. Kamal's son asked the teacher to withdraw the case. That scared the teacher.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, the teacher said, "They stole by mobile phone. They used by phone to withdraw money from my bank account. I filed a case. The police couldn't arrest the two who had snatched my mobile phone. Now I see that members of this criminal group even have found my house. They are telling me to withdraw the case. My wife and children are urging me to change our house. I am thinking of doing that too."

When asked about the matter, the inspector (investigations) of Mohammedpur police station yesterday, Thursday, told Prothom Alo that the matter is being duly investigated and attempts are being made to arrest the head of the criminal gang and the others.

The associate professor has been living in fear after the snatching incident. He said he is scared to venture out with a mobile phone and even to carry his ATM card.

This university teacher told Prothom Alo, "It is a matter of great concern if a citizen is scared of venturing out during day or night, if he is constantly in fear of being mugged. I have been traumatised by the incident. I have bought a new mobile but am scared to go out with it."

Important personal information is stored in a person's mobile phone, the teacher said. He said, "The snatchers used the secret password stored on my phone to withdraw my money. My mobile phone is linked to the account where my money is deposited. I was worried that they would withdraw my salary, but they couldn't do that. But they took Tk 60,000 from my account. I blocked both numbers and have got a new SIM. But if criminals commit any crime using that number, the blame falls upon the original user of the mobile phone."

The teacher said, "We hear of mobile phones being snatched every day and most of the time these are never recovered. The person whose mobile has been stolen knows just how risky that can be."