A police constable allegedly attacked a Bank Asia staff member in the capital's Paltan area on Wednesday.
Surprisingly, a police official, on behalf of the constable, then quickly apologised to the victim, Aiyub Ali, 38, an office assistant of Bank Asia's Meherba Plaza branch, following strong protests from passers-by.
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Those present at the scene were visibly aggravated by the assault which took place in front of Meherba Plaza on Topkhana Road around 1:30pm.
The act of police brutality was reportedly a case of mistaken identity.
Witnesses said a Shikar Paribahan bus had hit a motorcycle from behind on the busy road, causing the motorcyclist to engage in a brawl with the bus driver.
The angry motorcyclist then vandalised the bus.
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When police constable Mahabub from Shahbagh police station appeared on the scene, onlookers told him that the attacker was wearing a blue shirt.
Aiyub, who was also wearing a blue shirt, happened to be in the area.
Mistaking him for the motorcyclist, the constable started punching him repeatedly. At one point, pedestrians confined Mahabub.
Shahbagh police station SI Harun then rushed to the spot, but the situation went out of control in the meantime.
Finally, Shahbagh Operation Officer Shahin settled the matter and apologised.
OC (investigation) Jafarullah said: “It was a misunderstanding. The matter has been settled through discussion with the bank officials. We apologised to them for the incident.”
When asked, Md Serajul Islam, chief executive officer of Era Infotext ltd, a sister concern of Bank Asia, said: “The police mistakenly physically assaulted one of our staff members. They [the police] apologise after realising their mistake.”
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