National cricket team player Nayeem Hasan has alleged that police assaulted and harassed him in Chittagong’s Lalkhan Bazar area on Friday night, saying the incident has left him “mentally devastated.”
“I was very frightened when police at night put me into a CNG auto-rickshaw. Police grabbed my throat after putting me in a CNG; I am mentally devastated,” Nayeem said while describing the incident at a press conference held at his residence in the Faridapara area of Bahaddarhat on Saturday afternoon.
He said the situation could have escalated further if supporters had not been present at the scene. “If the 100 to 120 supporters who gathered there had not been present, the incident would have been different,” he said, adding that they accompanied him from Lalkhan Bazar to Khulshi Police Station.
According to Nayeem, police first stopped his CNG auto-rickshaw in the Lalkhan Bazar area while it was coming down from the expressway after he returned to Chittagong from Dhaka on a night flight following a Dhaka Premier League match. He said police seized the vehicle’s documents from the driver before removing him from the vehicle.
He alleged that sub-inspector Shafiqul Islam of Khulshi Police Station and a police source identified as Sohel then assaulted him with sticks and pipes after forcing him out of the CNG.
“When I was put into the CNG, I did not know they would grab my throat. When they grabbed my throat, I became frightened,” he said, adding that he was later taken to Khulshi Police Station, where he was further harassed and not allowed to speak properly.
Nayeem also claimed that despite his attempts to explain the situation, the officer in charge did not allow him to speak. “The OC did not let me speak anything,” he said.
He said Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials, including President Tamim Iqbal, intervened during the incident. “Due to Tamim Iqbal bhai’s phone call, things worked out,” he added, noting that he was instructed to remain silent when he tried to speak with the OC.
“I want to be alone for a while,” Nayeem told journalists, describing his condition as mentally distressed following the incident.
Following the allegations, authorities suspended two police personnel—Khulshi Police Station SI Shafiqul Islam and constable Md Russel Chowdhury. They were withdrawn from the station on Friday night and attached to the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Dampara Police Lines. A police source identified as Sohel has also been arrested, according to the CMP commissioner.
A three-member committee has been formed by CMP to investigate the incident, Commissioner Hasan Md. Shawkat Ali said while visiting Nayeem’s residence on Saturday afternoon.