The current officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar police station, and the former investigation officer (IO) of the infamous Narayanganj schoolgirl disappearance case, have submitted their explanation to the court.
The court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin recorded their statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Asadujjaman, the OC of Sadar Model police station has submitted his explanation of the incident as has the now suspended IO of the case, Sub-inspector (SI) Shamim Al Mamun, court sources confirmed.
Confirming the incident, OC Asadujjaman said acting on the court’s order we presented our explanation.
He said: “SI Shamim took a bribe from the accused and he got suspended for his unlawful act. We have no comments about the matter as it is his personal matter.”
“However, it doesn’t justify the allegations against the ex-policeman as the accused confessed to their crimes not once but on multiple occasions. If they were tortured and forced, they could have easily communicated it to the magistrate or the jailer. But they did not,” said the officer.
The officer also said they are investigating any past incident that might have influenced the accused’s false confession.
The High court ordered the two persons and the current investigation officer, SI Abdul Hai, to present themselves at the bench with relevant documents on September 17.
The 15 year old, who had been presumed dead, went missing on July 4.
Following her disappearance, acting on a case filed by the girl’s father on August 4, police arrested the three suspects in connection with the reported abduction.
On August 9, the accused gave confessional statements to the court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Milton Hossain and Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir.
The three confessed they had dumped the teenager’s dead body in the Shitalakhya river after raping and murdering her.
In a surprising turn of events, on Sunday, Iqbal Pandit, allegedly the husband of the schoolgirl, called her family and informed them that she was alive and living with him.
He, and the schoolgirl were detained by the police shortly thereafter.
Questioned by the police, the girl said she had taken off with her then boyfriend Iqbal Pandit to marry him and had been absconding since then.
The prime suspect in the abduction case, Abdullah, with whom she was last seen on July 4, had no knowledge of her intentions on the day, proving him and the two other suspects innocent.
Following the arrest of the three suspects, SI Shamim claimed that the schoolgirl had been murdered and her body was dumped into the Shitalakhya River by the suspects.