Police inspector flees to avoid arrest over money embezzlement
Bangladesh police could not confirm about his detention
Though Indian media has reported capture of Sheikh Sohel Rana, inspector at Banani Police Station in the capital and patron of controversial e-commerce platform E-orange, for crossing the border illegally, no law-enforcement agencies in Bangladeshi confirmed the matter.
A source at Gulshan Police Station, however, said Sohel was the 10th accused of a case filed on Thursday over embezzlement of money from digital marketplace E-orange.
That night Sohel fled the country to avoid arrest, said the source preferring not to be named. Sohel had intended to go to another country through India, he added
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On Wednesday, Mohammad Russel on behalf of 17 customers of E-orange appealed to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court to record a case over embezzlement of around Tk89 lakh.
The court then recorded his statement, ordered Gulshan police to register a case and asked them to give updates in 24 hours.
In the case statement, Russel said Sohel Rana could leave the country anytime since there was no travel restriction on him.
Earlier, Gulshan police refused to file a case on 18 August with Inspector Sohel Rana as one of the accused over the fraudulence.
OC Abul Hasan declined to make any comment on the matter.
The Indian Border Security Force seized a "foreign passport", mobile phones and ATM cards from Sohel's possession at the Kochbihar's Changrabandha border. It announced the capture on its tweeter handle.
The BSF handed Sohel over to Mekhliganj police in West Bengal and filed a case against him.
Sohel Rana, from Gopalganj district in Bangladesh, has been working with Dhaka Metropolitan Police, reports the Indian media.
Border Guard Bangladesh's Director (operation) Lt Col Faizur Rahman told The Business Standard that he had heard about the detention of the inspector in Changrabandha border area.
"We are yet to verify whether he is DMP's man or not. We already informed the police headquarters."
Assistant Inspector General (Media and Public Relation) Mir Shohel Rana at the police headquarters, however, said they had no information regarding the arrest of Sohel Rana in India.
DMP's Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner Md Asaduzzaman told reporters that Sohel Rana was on-duty until Thursday. He couldn't confirm where he was now.
Banani Police Station Officer-in-Charge Nure Azam Mina told TBS that Sohel Rana had been on leave for a few days before joining office recently and that he was on duty on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, Taherul Islam, who had filed a Tk1,100-crore fraudulence case against five named owners of E-orange, said Sohel Rana had laundered money from E-orange's account to his personal account.
He said one of the owners of E-orange Sonia Mehjabin is a sister of Sohel Rana, and another woman Naznin Nahar Bithi is his wife.
"We are astonished to see how he escaped from the Bangladeshi law-enforcement agencies. That is the kind of negligence of the police and immigration authority. The investigation officer of the fraudulence case already informed us that Sohel Rana had been arrested in India-Nepal bordering area," Taherul said.
