DB officer points gun at woman’s head during raid

Brahmanbaria police has formed a three-member committee to investigate the incident involving a DB police officer pointing a firearm at a woman’s head after failing to nab her husband during a raid on Friday.

Mohammad Shakhawat Hossain, superintendent of police (SP) in Brahmanbaria, said the committee, headed by additional SP Zainal Abedin, has been asked to submit its report within three working days. “Action will be taken as per the probe report.”

Meanwhile, the woman yesterday filed a complaint against the police officer with a court in Brahmanbaria over the incident, said her lawyer, Shawkat Ali.

A DB team led by Sub-Inspector (SI) Rezaul Karim went to Saudi expat Nurul Alam Nuru’s house to arrest him after a case was filed against him for misappropriating gold ornaments sent by another expat, Abdul Quddus, several months ago.

Quddus, who is now in Bangladesh, filed the case with Brahmanbaria Sadar Police Station, alleging that he gave Nurul gold ornaments weighing around 400 grams to deliver those to his family, however, Nurul didn’t deliver all of it.

On Friday evening, the DB team reached Nurul’s house and got into an argument and scuffle with the female members of his family.

A video footage of the incident went viral on social media.

At one point of the footage, SI Rezaul is seen pointing a pistol at the head of Nurul’s wife, Bonna Begum.

Talking to our local correspondent, Bonna said the family of Quddus framed her husband, as he did not make Quddus a partner in his business in Saudi Arabia.

“During a family gathering, five to six people in plain clothes arrived suddenly and started searching the house. As my daughter screamed in fear, a DB man hit her on the head with a gun, leaving her injured.

“As I protested, the DB official pointed a pistol at my forehead and later fired a blank round. We want a fair trial of this incident.”

Nuru’s brother Sarwar Alam said Quddus, while in Saudi Arabia, did not give gold to his brother directly, rather, a middleman gave the gold to him to hand over to the family.

“My brother handed over the amount of gold that he got from the middleman. If something happened, it was done by the middleman, not by my brother,” he said, adding that they had conveyed the same message to Sadar police after a case was filed against Nurul.

Contacted, SI Rezaul said DB Inspector Mofazzal Ali, along with a constable, first went there to apprehend the accused, but he was prevented from searching the house by family members.

“Later, I went there, and they misbehaved with me and helped the accused escape. This led to a scuffle with them,” he said.

“I did not point a firearm at anyone. I was holding the firearm, and my hand went in that direction due to the scuffle,” he claimed.