Prothom Alo journalist Samsuzzaman picked up from home by plainclothesmen identifying themselves as CID

Prothom Alo's Savar correspondent Samsuzzaman
Collected

Several plainclothesmen identifying themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) picked up Prothom Alo’s staff correspondent in Savar, Samsuzzaman, from his house near Jahangirnagar University early Wednesday morning.

However, local police and officials in charge of CID’s Dhaka division said they know nothing about this.

A local journalist and another witness said a team of 14 to 15 people arrived in front of Samsuzzaman's house in three vehicles at around 4:00 am. Seven or eight of them entered the house.

One of them searched Samsuzzaman’s room and seized his laptop, two mobile phones and portable hard disk. Around 10 to 15 minutes later, the men took Samsuzzaman to Jahangirnagar University’s Bottala.

Some of the eyewitnesses, students of the university, said that along with the chief security officer of Jahangirnagar University, Sudeepto Shaheen, a security guard, they detained Samsuzzaman and had sehri at Nur Jehan Hotel at Bottala.

A local journalist, who was an eyewitness to the incident, told Prothom Alo that at 4:45 am, the persons identifying themselves as CID men, took Samsuzzaman again to his house. This time the sub-inspector (SI) of Ashulia police station Raju Mondol accompanied them. On the second visit to the house, they made a list of the items that they seized. They told Samsuzzaman to pick up some clothes. They made him stand in the room and took his photograph. They left after 5 to 7 minutes. Jahangirnagar University chief security officer Sudeepto Shaheen was present both times the house was searched.

The persons identifying themselves as CID men, called the owner of the house when they were taking Samsuzzaman away. They told him that the state had objection to a report of Samsuzzaman and so he was being taken for interrogation.

Chief security officer of Jahangirnagar University, Sudeepto Shaheen, told Prothom Alo, “I did not know about the matter earlier. At 1:30 am the police contacted me. Samsuzzaman’s sister-in-law is an official of our university. They used that connection to take me to Samsuzzaman’s house.”

The officer-in-charge (OC) of Ashulia police station, SM Kamruzzaman, however, told Prothom Alo in the morning that he knew nothing of the incident. They had not arrested anyone, he said.

Prothom Alo spoke to the Dhaka district superintendent of police Md Asaduzzaman twice about the matter. At 8:30 in the morning today, Wednesday, he told Prothom Alo that he had no information about Samsuzzaman being detained.

At 10:00 am, Dhaka division CID deputy inspector general Md. Imam Hossain was contacted. He said he was in charge of Dhaka division CID. No one of his department had gone to detain Samsuzzaman, he said.