Rangpur District Detective Branch (DB) of police has arrested four members of a middlemen gang, including two officials from Fire Service and Civil Defence, for their alleged involvement in a recruitment scam during the Cadet ASI (unarmed) exams.
The group is accused of attempting to use proxy candidates with forged admit cards and defrauding a candidate of Tk17 lakh with the promise of securing a job.
Preliminary investigations have also linked a high-ranking official of Fire Service and Civil Defence as the primary coordinator of recruitment ring.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Md Badsha Masud Alam, deputy assistant director of Rangpur Fire Service and Civil Defence office; Md Nurul Islam, senior station officer of Savar’s Jirabo Modern Fire Station; Ashraful Islam from Pirganj, Thakurgaon; and Tajmilur Rahman from Bochaganj, Dinajpur.
According to a press release from Rangpur District Police, the arrests took place on Friday at Police Lines School and College centre.
Ashraful Islam was detained at the main gate after his admit card was found to be a forgery. Tajmilur Rahman, who accompanied him as a proxy candidate, was also apprehended at the scene.
During initial interrogation, Ashraful revealed that Badsha Masud Alam and Nurul Islam had assured him of a position as a Cadet ASI (unarmed). A contract for Tk17 lakh was reportedly settled with Ashraful’s father, and Tk2.5 lakh was deposited into a Dhaka Bank account.
The suspects then sent a forged admit card via WhatsApp, despite Ashraful never participating in the required physical examinations.
Acting on this information, DB police arrested Badsha Masud Alam from Jahaj Company Mor area of Rangpur city. Police confirmed that his mobile phone contained evidence of financial transactions, communications, and the creation of the forged admit cards.
Badsha Masud Alam reportedly admitted that Nurul Islam and several others were part of the syndicate.
The group had allegedly been operating for a long time, creating forged documents to defraud individuals of large sums of money in exchange for police appointments.
Moreover, the gang is accused of impersonating high-ranking officials to call senior police officers to create confusion.
Mohammad Mozammel Haque, superintendent of police (SP) for Rangpur District, told TIMES of Bangladesh, “We have found primary evidence of the involvement of those arrested. They have been sent to jail for the time being. The names of some high-ranking officials involved in this organised recruitment circle are surfacing. Legal action will be taken against them after further verification and investigation.”
A case has been filed with Rangpur Metropolitan Sadar Police Station on charges of recruitment exam fraud, forgery, the use of fake admit cards, embezzlement, and impersonation.
