Official terminated for implicating university student in false case

A female student of the law department of a university underwent intolerable sufferings as she denied taking private tuition of a drug trader’s children.

Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) sub inspector Sheikh Mohammad Sajjad Hossain in connivance with the drug trader framed the student by placing yaba pills at her house.

The SI has been terminated from the job after his role in the crime was proved.

The DNC in an office order on 12 March confirmed the termination order. Also, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is investigating a criminal case filed against the SI at the behest of the court.

The victim student has given birth to a child recently. Her husband said the victim could not come out of trauma as she is still receiving threats.

‘Our only solace is that we didn’t commit any crime,’ he said.

According to the office order, Sajjad  detained the student by placing 1000 pieces of yaba from her Khilkhet house on 16 February. He also took away 2.75 bhori gold and Tk 57,500 from the house. The terminated SI also took a bribe of Tk 20,000 from the father of the student for releasing her on the same day of detention.

Sajjad was posted in the Gulshan circle of the DNC at that time.

Investigation revealed that he conducted a drive at 9:30pm and detained the victim student illegally. However, Sajjad mentioned in the case statement and the seizure list that the drive was conducted at 7:00pm.

Sajjad showed Uttara circle’s sub inspector Rokeya Akter and Gulshan circle’s assistant sub inspector (ASI) Mohammad Ziaur Rahman were present alongside him during the drive but the duo were not. He also flouted a rule that makes the presence of a female officer to frisk another female mandatory.

The drive was not conducted in the presence of any neutral witness and the yaba pills reportedly recovered were not counted on the spot. Sajjad took the signature of witness No. 1 on the spot, but on a blank form and took the signature of witness No. 2 at his Tejgaon office flouting the rule.

Another allegation against Sajjad is that he framed the victim in connivance with drug trader Md Raihan.  Without making any neutral person as the witness from the spot, he made Md Mamun Khan, a resident of another area and a drug trader himself, as a witness.

The authorities filed a departmental case against Sajjad and served him show-cause notice. In a written reply, Sajjad applied for personal hearing.

But as his answer was not deemed satisfactory in a hearing on 7 August, the investigation officer was appointed as per rules. The investigation report said all the allegations except one were proven against Sajjad beyond reasonable doubt.

Relevant narcotics control officers and family sources said Sajjad framed the student as she denied taking tuition to the children of drug trader Raihan. She was detained during her examination.

Sajjad's departmental case was investigated by DNC’s Dhaka divisional additional director Mujibur Rahman Patwari. He told Prothom Alo allegations of misconduct against Sajjad have been proved. The investigation did not find any fault of the student and she was victimised.

Despite several attempts, the terminated SI Sheikh Mohammad Sajjad Hossain and the drug dealer Md Raihan and Mamun Khan's statements were not available.

A court asked DNC’s director Ahsanur Rahman to file a case against Sajjad over the incident and ordered the CID to investigate the case.

Ahsanur Rahman told Prothom Alo that the court acquitted the victim student and asked the authorities to file a case against Sajjad. The terminated SI has been appealing to the High Court repeatedly seeking a stay on the proceedings of the case.

The victim did not get any reparation for the wrongdoings she was subject to. Rather the family is still being threatened in various ways. "We had irreparable loss in this incident, yet we would demand compensation. My wife had to stay in jail for refusing to take tuition for a drug dealer’s child,” the victim's husband said.