Rafiqul Islam, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the Sonargaon police station in Narayanganj has been sacked.
He lost his job after initially being withdrawn from his duty following the resort scandal on April 3, involving Hefazat-e Islam leader Mamunul Haque.
The Home Ministry’s Public Security Division through a notice on Monday announced that Rafiqul would be sent into retirement in the “public interest” as per Government Job Act 2018’s section 45.
The section gives authority to the government to send a public service holder to retirement on the completion of 25 years of service, where Rafiqul completed 33 years of service, said Jayedul Alam, superintendent of police (SP) in Narayanganj district.
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“As all you watched, an unprecedented incident happened here. An extremist group leader gave a speech and started a live video from the office of Sonargaon police station OC. It is a negative point for him.”
“The rest is known by the government. The government thinks that he [Rafiqul] needs to go into retirement for the sake of public interest and so the authority took this step,” the Narayanganj district police chief told Dhaka Tribune.
The order came into effect from issuance of the notification and Rafiqul will receive all the benefits of retirement, according to the notice.
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On April 4, Rafiqul was removed from Narayanganj's Sonargaon police station and attached to the district police lines as a police inspector (unarmed).
His transfer came a day after Hefazat-e-Islam leader Mawlana Mamunul Haque's detention along with a woman at a resort in Sonargaon of Narayanganj.
Soon after locals held Mamunul inside the resort room, police took him into custody for quizzing over the matter. Later, Hefazat leaders and activists snatched Mamunul Haque away from there.
Joint Secretary General of Hefazat-e-Islam Mamunul Haque was arrested from a madrasa in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area on Sunday and a day after, put on seven-day remand.
He was shown arrested in the case filed on March 7 last year where he was accused of attempt to murder, vandalism, attacking mosque in the capital’s Mohammadpur area.