Suspended DIG Mizan sent to police custody

Suspended deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Mizanur Rahman, has been sent into police custody after the High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The High Court bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Kuddus Zaman rejected the bail petition while he surrendered before the bench on Monday afternoon and sent him to jail. Shahbagh police have taken him to their custody.

At the time of the hearing, the bench also observed that Mizanur Rahman has tarnished the image of police in the country. 

The bench also said Mizan also put the ACC into question by trying to bribe one of its directors for favours.

Earlier, DIG Mizan was withdrawn from Dhaka Metropolitan Police as its additional commissioner when allegations surfaced against him of abducting a woman and marrying her forcibly.

Later, the ACC launched an investigation into the illegal wealth of DIG Mizan.

During a television interview, Mizan claimed that suspended ACC director Enamul Basir, who was in charge the investigation, took bribes from him promising that he would be given a clean chit.

Basir, who was later suspended, also divulged information during the investigation, according to ACC officials.

Audio clips of mobile conversations between DIG Mizan and Enamul Basir were aired on television.

On June 20, a Dhaka court ordered attachment of all assets of Mizan and a freeze on his bank accounts upon a petition by the ACC.

In its plea, the anti-graft agency said that “assets made through illicit means” may be siphoned off the government.

DIG Mizan came under scanner in January last year when he was accused of forcibly marrying and torturing a woman. Later, he was withdrawn from his post at Dhaka Metropolitan Police, and ACC opened an investigation into him in May last year.

Meanwhile, the ACC investigation had stumbled after DIG Mizan raised an allegation of giving Tk 40 lakh as bribe to ACC deputy director and former inquiry officer Khandaker Enamul Basir. He had reportedly promised to free Mizan from the allegations.

After that, ACC suspended Basir and formed a fresh three-member committee to do the inquiry. The committee submitted the report recently, and ACC approved the filing of a case against Mizan on Sunday.

The commission also formed another committee to investigate the allegation of DIG Mizan bribing ACC official Basir.

As a part of the probe, the commission summoned Mizan and Basir for interrogation on July 1. ACC also asked senior reporter of ATN News Imran Hossain Sumon to appear before it on June 26. The television channel first aired a report where Mizan brought the allegation of bribing Basir.

Kamruzzaman