All this over showing tickets?

Railway staffers in Dinajpur blocked the railroad for over an hour yesterday, demanding police file a case against a narcotics department officer on charge of assaulting four staffers who asked him to show his ticket.

Md Sarwar Hossain, in-charge of Railway Nirapatta Bahini (RNB) in Dinajpur, said when the staffers were checking tickets at the platform on Wednesday afternoon, Md Shah Newaj, deputy director of narcotics department in Dinajpur, along with two people arrived at the station.

The staffers asked him to show tickets, but the official misbehaved with staffers instead. Later, he made several phone calls, he said.

Within some time, around eight people riding on motorbikes arrived there and started beating the railway staffers. At one point, they took four staffers into a room and assaulted them, he added.

The assault left the four injured, said Sarwar.

Later, members of Government Railway Police (GRP) brought the situation under control, said Ershadul Haq, officer-in-charge of GRP in Dinajpur. The people who went there on motorbikes work at the narcotics department.

Staffer Masud Parvez was being treated at a hospital, he said.

Staffers started protesting on Wednesday night. Later, police, and high officials of the railway and narcotics department talked to them to reach an amicable solution.

The staffers demanded a case be filed against the deputy director and the others, all of whom were released by police later that night, after writing bonds.

As news of the incident started circulating, railway staffers started another episode of protest yesterday afternoon, and in the process blocked Panchagarh Express for over an hour.

Contacted, Deputy Director Md Shah Newaj claimed that it was the staffers who misbehaved. He denied making any phone call.