Probe body disbanded
Slush fund scam in barisal police
In a major reshuffle of the internal probe committee constituted to investigate the bribe fund collection scam, the Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) last night disbanded the three-member committee and replaced it with a new five-member committee.
All three members, including the committee head Deputy Commissioner (headquarters) Soyeb Ahmed were removed from their posts.
The internal probe committee has been reformed by removing DC Headquarters Md. Soyeb Ahmed as head as well as members of the previous three-member committee, said BMP Commissioner Shoibal Kanti Chowdhury.
The BMP Commissioner said that the removal of Shoyeb Ahmed, DC Headquarter, as chief of the first probe committee was to maintain transparency in the investigation. The new five-member committee will be led by Abu Saleh Md. Raihan, Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) of the BMP. The other four members of the re-constituted probe committee include Shahnaz Parvin, Runa Laila, Asaduzzaman and Apu Sarwar, Assistant Commissioners of the BMP. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three working days.
Shoyeb Ahmed, in his position as Deputy Commissioner (Headquarter) of the BMP was informed about the scam two months ago by another DC. However, he ignored the information and also failed to submit his investigation report within the scheduled time, the BMP Commissioner said.
According to sources, Deputy Police Commissioner (South) Abdur Rouf had claimed during a police welfare parade meeting on June 28 at the police line training centre that he had informed Shoyeb about the scam two months ago, but he ignored it.
Meanwhile, an amount of Tk 17 lakh has been found in the joint bank account of bribe-fund organisers. Two cheques of Brac Bank worth Tk 25 lakh each were also deposited to the Dutch Bangla Banks Barisal branch by the suspended DC of the BMP (North) on Thursday as part of the amount collected for the bribe-fund.
Abu Saleh Md. Raihan, DC (Traffic) has now been given the responsibility to return the amount given by promotion-seekers. Despite initiation of an investigation by the police headquarter and media pressure on the matter, the BMPs internal probe committee BMP failed to submit its report. A three-member internal probe committee was formed by the BMP to investigate the scam involving the collection of Tk 77 lakh as bribe for promotion in services. A total of 11 police personnel, including a Deputy Commissioner have been suspended so far in this connection.
