Mohammad Abdur Rahim, former officer-in-charge (OC) of Khulshi Police Station under Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP), has been transferred to the Police Training Centre in Khulna, days after Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Shahadat Hossain criticised the police over an attempt to arrest a listed criminal.
The transfer order was issued by Police Headquarters on 8 October and came to light on Saturday, after the documents reached CMP headquarters.
The order was signed by AKM Awlad Hossain, additional inspector general of police at the Administration Branch of Police Headquarters.
According to the order, Abdur Rahim was transferred to the Khulna Police Training Centre in the public interest. He was instructed to obtain his release order from CMP by 10 October. Otherwise, he would be considered automatically released from his current posting from 11 October.
Earlier, Abdur Rahim was removed from Khulshi Police Station and transferred to the city’s Special Branch, known as CT-SB, within hours of criticism from Mayor Shahadat Hossain.
The latest transfer comes amid controversy over police efforts to arrest Wakil Hossain, alias Boga, a listed criminal who was formerly a joint convener of the Chattogram city unit of Swechchhasebak Dal before being expelled from the organisation.
On 7 October, the mayor questioned the police’s role in the attempt to arrest Wakil Hossain. The following day, reports in several media outlets said Abdur Rahim had been transferred from Khulshi Police Station to CT-SB within hours of the mayor’s criticism.
Police Headquarters subsequently ordered his transfer to Khulna.
According to police, Wakil Hossain, also known as Boga or Bihari Boga, faces more than 20 cases involving allegations of extortion, drug-related offences and assault.
