ACC to grill 3 policemen over gold embezzlement
FE Report | Wednesday, 14 May 2014
The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) will interrogate five people including three policemen again today (Wednesday) over the embezzlement of 165 smuggled gold bars that were seized from the city's Rampura area, sources have said.
The Commission took the decision of grilling the accused to investigate if they have any connection with any bigger smuggling group.
"As the incidents of gold smuggling increased in recent months, we fear the detainees could have a connection with any smuggling group," an ACC official said.
They are sub-inspector Monzurul Islam, police constables Akash Chowdhury and Wahedul Islam, police source Sajib Sikdar and car driver Mahfuz Alam. All of them are now in jail and the policemen have already been suspended.
ACC deputy director Jatan Kumar Roy will quiz them at its Segunbagicha headquarters.
The Commission quizzed 16 people so far over the alleged gold embezzlement.
On March 13, a gang of smugglers abandoned 235 gold bars in a car in Banasree area of the capital after being chased by a police team. But Rampura police recorded seizure of only 70 gold bars.
On March 16, two individuals named Samir Biswas and Jahid Hossain came to the police station for the vehicle. Later, police detained them and found them to be professional gold smugglers.
During interrogation Samir said that there had been a total of 235 gold bars in the car, not 70.
Police high-ups then closed Officer-in-Charge Kripa Sindhu Bala and OC (investigation) Nasim Ahmed of Rampura Police Station. An investigation was launched.
On March 18, a case was filed in this regard with the Rampura police station.
On April 1, the detective branch (DB) of police in separate drives arrested the three policemen and their informer with 149 gold bars from the capital, Naryanganj, Gazipur and Bogra.
On interrogation by DB men, the detainees confessed that there had been 235 gold bars in the vehicle. Then the detectives interrogated SI Manzurul and his patrol team who confessed to them that they had misappropriated the gold bars.