7 suspended DB members jailed for 7 years

A Cox's Bazar court has sentenced seven suspended members of the Detective Branch (DB) to 7 years imprisonment in a case filed over abducting and holding a businessman hostage for Tk17 lakh ransom.

Cox's Bazar District Sessions and Judges Court Judge Mohammad Ismail delivered the verdict on Tuesday (20 September). All seven accused were present in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.

At the same time, each of them has been fined Tk1 lakh and additional one-year imprisonment was imposed in default.

The convicts are SI Abul Kalam Azad, SI MD. Moniruzzaman, ASI MD. Golam, ASI Feroj Ahmed, ASI MD. Alauddin Mostafa, constable Mostafa Ajal and constable Md Al Amin.

According to the case statement, in October of 2017, seven DB men kidnapped blanket trader Abdul Gafur, younger brother of Teknaf municipality mayor Moniruzzaman, from the district town. Then they remanded Tk1 crore in ransom from the businessman's relatives by threatening to kill him in "crossfire". The family agreed to pay Tk. 17 lakhs after debt negotiation. After the money was delivered, Abdul Ghafoor was released at Shamlapur on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive road the next morning.

Following the incident, Abdul Gafur's family members informed the Army security post of the area. DB police personnel caught the microbus carrying the DB members at one of their check posts. The Tk17 lakh ransom money was recovered from them during the stop and search. At that time, DB Deputy Inspector (SI) Moniruzzaman ran away, but the remaining six people were arrested from the scene by army personnel. They were later suspended from the force.