Seventeen senior police officials are likely to be sent into forced retirement over alleged allegiance to the Awami League, family ties to the party, roles in manipulating the 2014 and 2018 elections, repression of the opposition, and corruption.
Three of them also face allegations of misconduct towards former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, including her forcible removal from her cantonment residence in 2018.
The home ministry yesterday sent the names of the 17 to the Prime Minister’s Office, seeking approval to take action against them, several officials at the PMO and the ministry confirmed to The Daily Star.
“A gazette notifying the officers’ compulsory retirement will hopefully be issued today [yesterday] or tomorrow [today],” said a highly placed source familiar with the process.
All 17 officers joined the police cadre on May 31, 2001. They include three deputy inspectors general (DIGs), 12 additional DIGs, one superintendent of police (SP), and one deputy police commissioner.
The Daily Star has obtained the home ministry document titled “Compulsory Retirement.”
Political affiliation features prominently in the document, which describes most of the officers as supporters or beneficiaries of the ousted Awami League government.
According to the document, several officers used their positions to secure promotions and favourable postings. It also accuses some of involvement in the arrest, harassment, enforced disappearance, and extrajudicial killing of opposition leaders and activists before and after the January 5, 2014 national election.
Three female officers are specifically named over incidents involving Khaleda Zia. Additional DIGs Rebeca Sultana and Jesmin Begum are accused of taking part in the forcible removal of Khaleda from her cantonment residence.
Joint Police Commissioner Farida Yasmin is accused of accompanying Khaleda in the vehicle that transported her from court to jail following the late BNP chief’s conviction in 2018.
The document says Farida served in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police from June 10, 2015, to July 13, 2022, and alleges that she worked with senior officials to suppress opposition activities.
Rebeca is separately accused of passing confidential state information to now fugitive Awami League leaders and is described as a close associate of former home minister Sahara Khatun.
DIG Mohammad Abdullahil Baki, described as a close associate of former president Abdul Hamid, is accused of using his position in the confidential wing of Police Headquarters to collect information on opposition leaders and programmes through telephone surveillance and passing it on.
Additional DIGs Mohammad Sarwar Hossain and Bidhan Tripura are accused of involvement in crackdowns surrounding the 2014 election.
Tripura, then SP of Manikganj, is also accused of helping manipulate the election and receiving a police medal as a reward.
Additional DIG Soheli Ferdous is accused of working from a control room at the Police Headquarters (PHQ) to assist those allegedly involved in vote manipulation during the 2018 election. The document also alleges that, while serving as assistant inspector general (media), she misappropriated Tk 15 lakh, adding that the allegation was proved in an investigation.
Some of the officers are also accused of involvement in drug trafficking, financial corruption, abuse of authority, and professional misconduct.
Additional DIG AKM Iqbal Hossain, a former Cox’s Bazar SP, is accused of links to the yaba trade and of transporting yaba consignments in his vehicle.
DIG Md Walid Hossain is accused of repressing the opposition while serving in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and of engaging in corruption during his tenure as Pirojpur’s SP.
SP Abdur Rahim Shah Chowdhury is described as having been convicted in a corruption case, while several other officers are broadly labelled as corrupt, opportunistic, or professionally unsuitable.
Additional DIGs Mohammad Tabarak Ullah, Md Habibur Rahman, and Faysal Mahmud, along with Abdur Rahim Shah Chowdhury, were dismissed from service on July 1, 2002, over alleged links to the Bangladesh Chhatra League and were later reinstated during the caretaker government.
According to the document, DIG Sana Shaminur Rahman was involved with Islami Chhatra Shibir while at university but later portrayed himself as a Chhatra League supporter during the Awami League government to advance his career through political influence.
The assessment also cites the political backgrounds of the families of Additional DIGs Hasina Rahman, Kaniz Fatema, and Sultana Nazma Hossain. It further lists police medals and government-funded foreign visits involving officers it describes as politically connected.
Earlier, the government sent 33 senior police officers -- including 14 DIGs, 18 additional DIGs, and one SP -- into compulsory retirement.
It also sent 17 senior officers into compulsory retirement on May 3, while 11 DIGs and two additional DIGs were sent into compulsory retirement on April 22 under the same provision.
