Two cops suspended over 'demanding bribe, framing man with yaba pills'

A sub-inspector and a constable of Chattogram Metropolitan Police's (CMP) Detective Branch were suspended this afternoon after a case was filed against them on charges of framing a man with yaba tablets after failing to extort Tk 2 lakh from him.

SI Md Mohsin and Constable Md Azad were attached to Chattogram Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB) Port Zone.

Abu Bakar Siddique, deputy commissioner (port) of the Detective Branch, told The Daily Star, "As the allegation was raised and a case was filed against them in the court, the duo were suspended after a preliminary investigation.

"Further departmental investigation will be conducted, and action will be taken as per departmental rules if they are found guilty."

Earlier, on Monday, Sabina Akter, a resident of the city's Double Mooring area, filed the case with the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sarker Hasan Shahriar, accusing the two of falsely implicating her brother in a drug peddling case after failing to extort Tk 2 lakh from him.

The court directed the CID to investigate the matter, said the plaintiff's lawyer Afzal Hossain.

According to the case statement, on July 22, a team of DB police detained the plaintiff's brother, Zakir Hossain, and later demanded Tk 2 lakh from him. He is a cook by profession, according to family members.

When Zakir said he could not pay that amount, they beat him up. Hearing the news of his detention, family members went to the DB office in the city's Mansurabad area. There, the two cops told them that Zakir was detained with 3,000 yaba tablets. If they paid Tk 1 lakh, they would file a case showing recovery of only 400 yaba tablets, and if they paid Tk 2 lakh, then her brother would be released and no case would be filed, added the case details.

They informed the two DB policemen it was not possible to pay such a large sum. Failing to extort the money, the policemen filed a case under the Narcotics Control Act with Double Mooring Police Station the next day, July 23, showing the recovery of 400 yaba tablets from Zakir's possession, said the case documents.

According to police records, Zakir had been named in another drug peddling case filed with Sadarghat Police Station in 2019.