EC in the dark about lost laptops case
The election commission (EC) has no knowledge about the case filed over its four laptops stolen seven years ago.
Over the last decade and a half, neither the petitioner nor EC inquired about the progress of the case which was dismissed without any conclusion.
The police too fell silent after just submitting the final probe report on the matter.
The petitioner of the case, Ashraful Alam, also an election officer at the Chattogram election office, said he was transferred immediately after the case was filed and he did not receive any upate on the matter.
The EC itself also remains in the dark about the fate of the case over this long period of time.
When EC’s current deputy secretary Khorshed Alam was informed that the litigation had been dismissed, he simply said, “But the case is under trial, as far as I know”
Though the case was closed without any conclusion, in the past seven years the authorities did not file any appeal against the verdict.
The authorities do not have clear idea over whether the laptops still are connected with the national database.
Chattogram district lawyers association’s general secretary Md Ayub Khan told Prothom Alo that if the EC filed any discontentment with the court, police might hand over the case to other agencies for further investigation.
However, a lost laptop which was recently recovered from Zaynal Abedin, an election officer at the Double Mooing’s election office accused of providing Rohingyas fake NID cards, was used to produce fake National Identity (NID) for Rohingyas.
In police interrogation, Zaynal Abedin among three detainees admitted that they used the laptop to produce fake NID cards for Tk 30,000 to Tk 60,000 each.
They have so far made three thousands fake NIDs.
Yesterday (Thursday), the EC recovered another laptop from EC’s temporary data entry official Mostafa Farukh.
The issue of fake NID cards came to attention after 22 August this year when a certain Lucky Akter, a Rohingya woman, was detained while collecting her NID from the Chattogram election office.
How the theft committed
On the night of 6 October 2012, four laptops were stolen from the Chattogram election office.
Following a case filed by election officer of the Chattogram office Ashraful Alam, police arrested nine people – Borhan Uddin, Noman Shibli, Azizur Rahman, Mohiuddin Farukh, Mehedi Hassan, Abu Sikdar, Md Imran, Abu Sayed and Dost Mohammad.
The police then submitted the final probe report to the court on 22 January 2013. Three months into the theft, the report said none could be identified over the theft.
The court also accepted the report and the case was dismissed, leaving the mystery unrevealed.
Chandanaish police station’s officer-in-charge Keshab Chandra confirmed Prothom Alo about submission of the final report.
The court’s case registration wing also ascertained the dismissal of the case.
The list of lost laptops in making
The district election office is preparing a list of the lost laptops from the Chattogram election office.
“We now have 63 active laptops. A total of 23 are out of use. The EC has issued a letter in this regard,” said the district lection officer Md Munir Hossain Khan.
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