The youth was identified as Md. Ashraful (23). He used to live in the Hazaribagh area of the capital. His hails from Chandraganj, Lakshmipur district.
Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner of Police, Masud Alam confirmed this information to the Times of Bangladesh on Tuesday night.
In the viral video, a young man wearing a white shirt can be seen collecting tolls with a receipt. At this time, the youth had an argument with the owner of a private car.
A person sitting in the car questioned the youth about his bullying. In reply, the youth said, “Yes, I am doing it, is there any problem?” At this time, the wife of the private car owner asked the youth for his name. In response, the youth said, “What’s the point of knowing the name?”
The video also shows the private car owner saying, “I parked the car on the street and gave him a toll. Then I am watching.”
Seeing that the video was being recorded from inside the car, the youth shook his hair and said, “My face has come out nicely. You won’t be able to touch a single hair on my head.” After this, the youth left.
Earlier, on April 9, two people were beaten to death by the public while extorting tolls at the Sylheti market in Kamrangirchar, Dhaka. Local residents and police claimed that they were members of an organised snatching and extortion gang.
DC Masud Alam said that after the video of the youth extorting tolls in Jigatola went viral on social media, an operation was launched to arrest him. Within a few hours, the accused youth Md. Ashraful was arrested in connection with the toll collection incident. Further legal action is underway in this regard.
On March 27 (Thursday) evening, at a Hifzul Quran competition organised on the occasion of the Independence Day at the Muradnagar Upazila Parishad premises in Cumilla, Advisor to the Ministry of Local Government Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan said, “Due to the fascist regime, we have reached such a situation that many people think that giving tolls is also their responsibility. Anyone gives me a token, and I have to give 50 or 100 taka. Again, those who take tolls think it is their right. Because this has been going on for a long time, why won’t it continue now? I want to clearly convey a message to those extortionists—no previous practices will be tolerated after the July mass uprising.”