Agonising days in custody, jail for failing to pay CID men to get himself free

Forty-six-year-old Yakub Ali believes money is the only motive behind his detention and torture by CID officials in a murder case. 

He spent more than one and a half months in jail before being released on bail on 28 July. 

During the time, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials made up a story to justify Yakub's detention, which contradicts the case statement. 

They also got a statement from the wife of the lone named accused to implicate Yakub in the crime, which she later retracted before a magistrate and told the court it was given under duress. 

The murder case was filed a year ago after the death of one Khairul Islam at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. According to the forensic report, the death was caused by 60% burns from electrocution. 

Khairul's father told Badda police while filing the murder case on July 1, 2020 that Khairul had gone to meet his girlfriend on his rooftop when the girlfriend's father Nadeem Ahmed and 3-4 others beat him. Khairul then fell to the rooftop of the next building, from where he was taken to the hospital, where he died four days later. 

Yakub told The Business Standard he was sleeping on the night of 10 June this year at his bakery shop in the capital's Uttar Badda, when law enforcers in plain clothes picked him up and drove him to the Malibagh headquarters of the CID.  

He was tortured in custody for around 60 hours before being taken to Rajarbagh Central Police Hospital on 12 June, said Yakub in a recent interview with TBS.  

While undergoing treatment, he found out he was an arrestee in the murder case. 

During his custody in the CID headquarters, Yakub said, "I was taken to superintendent (North) Khalidul Haque Hawlader's room. They tied my hands and legs with ropes and started beating me up. Handcuffed and blind-flooded, I was then taken to another room where Sub-inspector Dolon Mazumder demanded Tk10 lakh and told me I would be framed in a murder case if I did not pay the money." 

CID officials claimed that Khairul had been burnt to death with kerosene and Yakub had brought the inflammable liquid to help commit the murder. 

Neither did the forensic report nor inquest report or two other prob reports have any mention of kerosene. 

Dolon Mazumder, the third investigation officer of the murder case, said before the court that the murder accused Nadeem's wife Shahela Banu made a statement on June 12, in which she said her husband had called a friend of his to get kerosene on the night Khairul was murdered. 

Victim Yakub Ali. Photo: Courtesy

But she did not name Yakub in the confessional statement in the court. 

Dolon said Yakub had been picked up based on Shahela's statement. 

But the statement was made two days after the detention and hours after Yakub was admitted to the police hospital. 

When approached by TBS, the investigation officer could not explain the way the events had unfolded. 

Moreover, Yakub said CID officials had not gotten any proof of any kind of communication between him and Nadeem in a forensic test of his mobile phone. 

No evidence was placed in the court either, supporting CID officials' claim.   

Khairul's father Abdul Kuddus Shikder, the plaintiff, said he had made no allegation against Yakub. 

CID Sub-inspector Dolon could not even explain why he did not seek the court's permission to exhume the body of Khairul for re-examination to find out if the previous forensic test had missed any sign of kerosene use. 

Meanwhile, Yakub, released on bail, lodged a complaint with the police headquarters, CID headquarters and the home ministry, seeking redress for the injustice.

He claimed his younger brother Mohammad Raju had paid sub-inspector Dolon Tk2 lakh following threats of further torture of Yakub during remand.  

Shahela before a magistrate on July 26 said that the CID officials had pressured her into giving a false testimony against Yakub and that her family had no relationship with the owner of the bakery shop. 

When asked by TBS about the allegation, CID Special Superintendent of Police Khalidul Haque Hawlader declined to comment.

Dolan also denied receiving money and forcing anyone to testify against Yakub.  

He also asked why the media should run a story based on allegations by an accused when the case is under trial. 

The murder case has been transferred to another team of the CID, following the allegations tied to Yakub's detention. 

Saidur Rahman Khan, special superintendent of police of the CID's serious crime unit, who is leading a fresh probe, also refused to make any comment right now as a fresh probe was underway.

CID chief Md Mahbubur Rahman, additional inspector general of the police, could not be reached for comment despite numerous phone calls and sms.