Staff Correspondent

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is expanding its presence across the country, its chief said yesterday.

In order to bolster the law enforcing agency’s activities; they have already taken steps to set up office in all 64 districts, said Additional Inspector General Mahbubur Rahman at a press conference at CID office yesterday

Already, 45 Superintendent of Police (SP) and 19 Additional SP level officers have been appointed as chiefs at district-level offices, who will look into operational and administrative activities, he added.

The district head will also supervise investigation into cases that CID is tasked with, he said.

Previously, CID had offices only at divisional headquarters and some other major districts.

Tasked by courts, Police Headquarters and the home ministry, CID is currently investigating cases filed for 22 types of crimes, such as money laundering, human trafficking, organised crime and sensational murders.

“Currently, the specialised police unit is investigating some 5,811 cases across the country. Of the cases, 23 to 24 percent are murder cases,” said the CID chief.

He also said CID has submitted charge sheets of around 82 percent of its investigated cases. However, the conviction rate of those is 24 percent only.

“We have taken steps to find out loopholes to increase the conviction rate. We have already appointed law-background professionals to assess the reasons behind low rate of conviction,” he said.

After analysing the cases, court opinions on reasons of not convicting accused, the group is set to submit a report to him in the next one month, said Mahbubur.

Regarding poor convocation rate, he said from the police perception, they are suspecting delay in completing investigation and delayed in trial procedure are some of the main reasons.

“We will from now on make investigation officers (IOs) accountable for the delay in investigation,” he said.

The CID boss also said currently 60 to 70 percent of evidence of the cases are oral-based, while 30 to 40 percent are forensic. He further said they would take steps to ensure more forensic evidence of cases.

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