Police on Sunday arrested 11 athletes and a coach, who participated in the just-concluded Sheikh Kamal 2nd Bangladesh Youth Games in Dhaka, in Rajshahi on charges of allegedly beating a police officer and stealing his wife's ornaments.
The injured police constable, Golam Kibria, has been admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH).
Razia Sultana Jaya, the wife of Golam Kibria, filed a case against 13 players at the Rajshahi railway police station.
The accused in the case are Ali Azam, 19, Akash Ali Mohan, 20, Abdul Al Jahid, 16, Farhana Khandoker, 17, Rimi Khanam, 17, Khadiza Khatun, 18, Papai Sarwar Purnima, 19, Dipali, 19, Sabrina Akhter, 19, Jemi Akhter, 14, Brishti Moni, 16, Ramjan, 19 and coach Ahsan Kabir, 45.
All of them, except Ramjan, have been arrested.
When the accused were produced before the court, Liton Hossain, acting chief judicial magistrate of the chief judicial magistrate court of Rajshahi, sent seven of the accused athletes to jail.
On the other hand, the Women and Child Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 granted the minors and female athletes interim bail on the condition that they appear in court on Monday at 10am.
According to the case file, Police Constable Golam Kibria and his wife Razia Sultana Jaya left Dhaka for Rajshahi on the Dhumketu Express Train at 6am.
When the train reached Rajshahi station, Golam Kibria and Razia Sultana Jaya approached the door to get off the train, but the accused athletes gathered and blocked the door.
When Golam Kibria and his wife requested them to move away from the door, the accused got into an argument with them. At one point, the athletes started beating the police constable and his wife.
During that time, Razia Sultana Jaya's necklace was stolen and Golam Kibria's nose was broken, she claimed in the case file.
However, the arrested athletes denied the allegation and said the actual incident was different.
Gopal Kumar, officer-in-charge of Rajshahi Railway Police Station, said police constable Golam Kibria's wife, Sultana Razia Sultana, filed the case against athletes alleging that they beat up her husband and stole her gold chain.
“However, why such an incident happened will be investigated,” he said.
