Ex-SI sentenced to 7 years in jail for fabricating murder case in Khulna

Md Shah Alam, a dismissed sub-inspector of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP), has been sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for abuse of power and bribery.

Judge Md Ashraful Islam of Khulna Divisional Special Judge's Court delivered the verdict today (23 March).

Court Bench Assistant Yasin Ali confirmed that Shah Alam was sentenced under two sections and later sent to jail.

The case dates back to 2012, when Sima, a domestic worker at the residence of Masud Hasan, owner of Milky Ice Cream Factory in Mujgunni residential area of Khulna's Khalishpur, went missing.

Shah Alam allegedly fabricated a murder case against Masud, falsely claiming that he had killed Sima and hidden her body.

However, another police team later rescued Sima alive. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) subsequently filed a case against Shah Alam on charges of abuse of power and bribery.

According to court records, Masud Hasan and his wife Yasmin had employed Sima, a nine-year-old girl from Char Daulatpur village in Lohagara upazila, Narail, as a domestic worker in 2009.

When Sima went missing, her mother, Sufia Begum, filed a case with the Khulna Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal on 7 May 2012, accusing Masud Hasan, Mohammad Ali Khondokar, and Md Masud Sheikh.

During the investigation, Shah Alam reportedly demanded a bribe of Tk3 lakh from Masud Hasan's family.

When the bribe was not paid, Shah Alam falsely linked an unidentified woman's body—found wrapped in a sack in a canal in Line Bil Pabla of Dumuria upazila—to Sima's disappearance.

He then arrested and allegedly tortured Masud Hasan and his wife.

On 30 April 2015, ACC Deputy Assistant Director Md Mosharraf Hossain filed a case against Shah Alam for fabricating the murder story. The charge sheet was submitted to the court on 31 August 2016.