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Even one of their own had to buy his release
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The detainees gathered Tk 1.28 crore and gave it to Aksadud’s wife Tahmina Yasmin, who then handed it to a five-member DB team led by Korayshi, the ministry report says, quoting Tahmina.
On November 28, ADC Korayshi called Tahmina and told her that his share of the money was very small because he had to distribute it among many. The officer then asked her to give him another Tk 20 lakh.
According to the probe report, the CID analysed the recorded calls between ADC Korayshi, Aksadud and Tahmina and concluded that those were authentic.
In one of the conversations, ADC Korayshi was heard saying that the money was taken from them for the construction of a building at the DB office.
On November 28, a DB team handed Aksadud over to a CID officer and released another detainee named Golam Mawla.
The other detainees -- Selim Mollah, Ripon Morol, Amir Hossain, Riju Mia and Mosharraf Hossain -- were taken to a court which sent them to jail.
One other man named Harunur Rashid, who drove the microbus used during the alleged robbery, was brought to court by DB officers as a witness.
After investigating the case for about a year and a half, DB Sub-Inspector Masudul on May 22 last year pressed robbery charges against Aksadud and eight others.
Aksadud, who was sacked by the CID on August 18, 2021, for his alleged involvement in the robbery, told The Daily Star that he filed a complaint with the home ministry on August 31, 2021, about the money ADC Korayshi took.
He added that he went to the ministry after failing to recover the money from ADC Korayshi.
A team of detectives arrested Aksadud in the robbery case a few days after he filed the complaint.
On November 9, 2021, the home ministry formed a probe committee with Fouzia Khan, a deputy secretary of the ministry’s public security division, and Ahsan Habib, an ADC at the DMP.
Fouzia recently told this correspondent the probe report was submitted to the senior secretary of the public security division on October 26, 2022.
The probe report says the seven DB men involved in taking the bribe are ADC Korayshi, Sub-Inspector Masudul, Inspector Jahidul Islam, Inspector Mizanur Rahman, assistant sub-inspectors Prakash Chandra Guha and Julhas, and constable SM Masud Rana.
ADC Korayshi was recently transferred to the Armed Police Battalion.
The ministry probe body recorded statements from Aksadud, Tahmina, Mosharraf Hossain and the seven DB officers.
The Daily Star has copies of the ministry report and forensic report of the recorded phone calls.
THE BRIBERY
According to the probe report, seven officers, including ADC Korayshi, picked up Aksadud from Malibagh on November 26, 2020, and took him to the DB office on Minto Road.
There, an ADC named Lucky and Korayshi took him to the then DB Joint Commissioner Mahbub Alam’s room and accused Aksadud of committing the robbery on Airport Road. When the latter denied any wrongdoing, they made him call a trader named Mosharraf with whom Aksadud had frequent contacts. Mosharraf was told to go near the SA Paribahan office in Kakrail and wait. When Mosharraf went there, a DB team picked him up.
At the DB office, ADC Korayshi told them that if they gave him Tk 2 crore, he would talk to senior officers to set them free. Aksadud then called his wife over WhatsApp.
ADC Korayshi told Aksadud that six other detainees named Selim Mollah, Ripon Morol, Amir Hossain, Riju Mia, Golam Mawla and Harunur Rashid were kept in an adjacent room.
The detainees talked among themselves and arranged Tk 1.28 crore. Their family members gave the money to Aksadud’s wife Tahmina.
At night, ADC Korayshi and four others of the DB brought Aksadud to his Khilgaon home and took Tk 1.28 crore, Tahmina told the probe body.
But the DB team didn’t release the detainees. Besides, ADC Korayshi took an additional Tk 14 lakh from Tahmina at a place in jigatola on November 28.
About the robbery case, the probe report says the process of investigation and the charge sheet are fraught with loopholes and inconsistencies.
Mosharraf was picked up on November 26, 2020, from Kakrail, but he was taken to a court on November 29 with the record showing that he was arrested in Jatrabari, says the report.
The security camera footage and registers of the DB office must be checked to see whether the detainees were tortured in custody between November 26 and November 28, it adds.
ADC Korayshi refused to talk about the matter with this correspondent.
The Police Headquarters (PHQ) formed a body to investigate the bribery on October 10, 2021.
Contacted, Mohammad Ataul Kibria, additional deputy inspector general (logistics) at the PHQ, said he investigated the allegation and filed a report in mid-2022, but he could not remember the findings.
Belal Uddin, additional DIG at the Discipline and Professional Standard wing, told The Daily Star that the findings of the report were being reviewed.

Shelters
FROM PAGE 1
“The volunteers are already conducting door-to-door campaigns in this regard and will make announcements over microphones tomorrow [today] to warn people about the storm.”
The meeting decided closing down all educational institutions from Sunday onwards to use them as shelters if needed, setting up control rooms in each camp, and relocating people living in landslide-prone areas.
The district administration has been requested to ensure schools near the camps can be used as shelters.
Besides, all the learning, community and nutrition centers; community meeting halls and mosques will also be used as temporary shelters if needed.
Belal Hossain, director and head of operations of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, at the meeting said, “Around Tk 20 lakh has been allocated for the disaster relief fund [ahead of the cyclone].”
Imrul Kayes, representative from the Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon’s office, said, health facilities in the camps, along with those at the Ukhiya Health Complex and Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, have been amped up with mobile teams, ambulances and other necessary equipment for emergency assistance.
Meanwhile, Emmanuela Mashayo, head of Bangladesh chapter of the World Food Programme, said energy biscuits, hot meals, water purification tablets and other necessary items have already been stocked up for disaster relief.
Abdur Rahman, meteorological officer in Cox’s Bazar, said Cyclone Mocha is expected to hit Cox’s Bazar around 6:00am on Sunday (May 14).
Atish Chakma, deputy assistant director of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense, also spoke.