Who arrested Zakia Sultana, who is to blame?
The complaint had been against Zakia Sultana's brother-in-law, Md Mahmudul Hasan. On Tuesday night, RAB-4 arrested him and handed him over to the Shah Ali police station the next day. When Zakia (53) went to the police station the next day, she too was arrested in a narcotics case. Now neither RAB nor the police want to take the blame of arresting Zakia.
RAB's legal and media wing director Khandaker Al Moin, speaking to Prothom Alo, said that the building from which Mahmudul Hasan was arrested, belong both to him and his sister-in-law. RAB, however, did not arrest Zakia Sultana, he said. RAB filed a case and the investigating officer is looking into whether Zakia was involved in any criminal activities. On the other hand, Shah Ali police station's officer-in-charge (OC) Abul Bashar Md Asaduzzaman, said members of RAB nabbed the accused and handed them over to the police.
Zakia Sultana spent one day behind bars and was released on Thursday. She told Prothom Alo that the police had arrested her. They owned a nine-storey building in the Nawaberbagh embankment area behind the Mirpur zoo. They were fighting a case with certain opponents over this building. Their opponents contacted RAB and her name was in the case filed by RAB.
When asked what had happened, Zakia Sultana said she lived in Dhanmondi and her brother-in-law lived in Lalmatia. On the day of the incident, her brother-in-law Mahmudul Hasan had collected rent from the building in Nawaberbagh embankment area and was returning home to Lalmatia. At around 10:00pm or 10:30pm, RAB picked him up and took him to the building. She heard that the RAB men dismantled the CCTV cameras when they entered the building. The building caretaker was named Kamal. They called out 'Kamal, Kamal', but Kamal fled when he saw the RAB men.
Zakia Sultana said they informed a few television channels about the incident. When they went there, some of the RAB members took off their jackets. Prothom Alo, however, couldn't verify this statement.
Zakia Sultana went on to say that she was at home but keeping informed on what was happening. She sent another brother-in-law of hers to the place of the incident. She said, her father-in-law and mother-in-law had passed away earlier and her husband Osman Ghani had died last year. She was the guardian of the family now.
The next day the family learnt that Mahmudul Hasan had been sent to the RAB-4 office. At 8:00 in the night he would be handed over to the police station. After having iftar at her brother-in-law's house in Lalmatia, she took his wife and went to the police station. RAB men and vehicles were there from around 9:00pm to 11:30pm. They repeatedly requested to be allowed to meet Mahmudul and eventually the police let them in.
As they were leaving, members of the police told Zakia that she couldn't leave. She was named in the case too. In fact, she would have to remain one year in jail. According to Zakia, the police told her that their opponents that resorted to RAB in order to take over their building. The police arrested Zakia and sent her to court. From there she was sent to jail.
There were some discrepancies between Zakia Sultana's version and the case statement. Deputy assistant director of RAB, Anwar Hossain, had written in the statement that at 3:15am, Mahmudul Hasan was arrested from a car in front of the House Building Development Limited building opposite the Diyabari intersection landing stand. He was searched while in the car and he handed over a firearm that had been in his possession.
Based on information, they took Mahmudul Hasan to the Nawaberbagh embankment and raided the place. They seized 105 yaba pills, deerskin and counterfeit currency notes from him. RAB filed four separate cases against him. Zakia was included in the narcotics case.
When asked what was the specific charge against Zakia, RAB-4 commander Mozammel Haq said the legal and media wing director can speak about these matters.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Khandakar Al Moin said the house where the crime took place, belonged to the man and his sister-in-law and that is why Zakia was accused too.
The investigating officer will now look into how far Zakia is involved. The court had granted her bail. However, the raid was not wrong. Previously Mahmudul Hasan had been caught in possession of an AK-47 rife in Kafrul. There were narcotics cases against him too. And Joyita Shilpi said that the car from where the firearm was seized, was in Zakia Sultana's name. She would assist her brother-in-law and use the car too.
Zakia Sultana's family complained that RAB official Joyita Shilpi and her husband, city Jubo League (North) office secretary Kamruzzaman were involved in this incident. However, Joyita said, they launched the raid with information about the firearm. Her husband had nothing to do with this.
About the allegation against Joyita Shilpi, Khandakar Al Moin said, if there are allegations against any officer, a written complaint can be lodged.
Shah Ali police station OC Asaduzzaman said, there was controversy over the building, but he did not know whether that was the reason for these incidents. RAB had brought several charges against the accused.