CID arrested a man who pretended to be the home adviser and sent WhatsApp messages to the Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner (DC) asking for money and trying to influence election duties.
The Cyber Police Centre (CPC) of CID identified the suspect as Md Shamim Osman, 29, son of Md Shamsul Haque and Supera Begum, from Kishorpur village under Bagha upazila in Rajshahi.
A specialised team from CPC’s Cyber Investigation and Operations unit detained him on 19 January during an operation in the Savar police station area. CID said legal action is underway under applicable laws.
Initial enquiries found that Shamim introduced himself as Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, the Home Adviser, and sent WhatsApp messages to the Rajshahi DC regarding the upcoming national parliamentary election.
The messages contained misleading and motivated claims, including: “No Awami League leader or activist can be arrested in Rajshahi” and “There will be no election without Awami League.”
Shamim also asked about monthly “collections” and instructed the DC to send Tk1 lakh to his personal bKash number.
The DC found the messages suspicious and alerted the CPC. Using digital surveillance, CID investigators quickly identified and located the offender.
CID said Shamim is a professional fraudster and has faced similar allegations in the past for impersonating senior government officials.
A warrant had already been issued against him at Bagha police station in Rajshahi. CID handed him over to the relevant police station following due legal procedure.
CID is now investigating whether others were involved in the scheme and whether Shamim used the identities of other high-ranking officials for similar fraud attempts.
