A trader in Narayanganj has alleged that law enforcers had picked him up on Thursday and beat him up in custody at a police camp as he was one of the traders who protested toll collection by the police in the area.
Victim Md Ejaj, 32, was later shown arrest in a land dispute case and produced before a court. But he was released on bail as the plaintiff of the case told the court that he did not know him.
Ejaj at a press conference yesterday told reporters: “I have three shops at River View market which is situated between Narayanganj sadar model police station and the Marine Police camp. The trucks which carry goods for several thousand shops of the market conduct loading and unloading goods near of the camp.
“In the past, the Marine Police used to demand Tk20-50 from the trucks and the traders paid the money without saying anything. But recently after Sub-Inspector Nazrul came as the in-charge of the camp, he started demanding Tk300 from each truck.
“We protested the toll collection and decided not to give him a penny,” he said in a written statement.
As a result, two plainclothes policemen around 9:30pm on Thursday harassed two traders of the market in the name of searching in front of the camp and took away money from their wallets.
“I saw the incident and protested. Hearing hue and cry in front of the camp, SI Nazrul came out of the camp and dragged me inside,” Ejaj said.
All of a sudden, Nazrul started beating him up and at one stage tied his hands with a chair and blindfolded him. Then the two plainclothes police men beat him up mercilessly.
As the other shop owners came forward hearing his screams, Nazrul behaved rudely with them. He also threatened to lock up the victim’s maternal uncle who came to save him.
“After the torture, SI Nazrul sent me to Sadar model police station that night. The police men there decided to show me arrested in a land dispute case,” he claimed. But, the plaintiff of the case, Nasir, at the court told the judge that he had feud over land with his nephews, not Ejaj who was standing in the dock.
Contacted, SI Nazrul told the Dhaka Tribune that the OC of the Narayanganj model police station would comment on the issue. OC Manjur Kader said he would investigate the incident. “I regret personally if anything like this happened,” he said.