A Dhaka court on Saturday sent four arrested suspects to prison in connection with a midnight attack, extensive vandalism, and looting at Radda MCH-FP Centre in Mirpur-1, Dhaka.
Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Siddique Azad of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed the detention order after the suspects were produced before the court, as confirmed by a Sub-Inspector (SI) from the prosecution division of Shah Ali Police Station.
The four accused sent to prison are Md Sohel, 22, Md Jewel, 23, Md Jihad Hasan, 21, and Md Rabib, 20.
Earlier, Sub-Inspector (SI) Md Ataur Rahman of Shah Ali Police Station, the Investigation Officer (IO) of the case, submitted an application seeking to detain the accused in judicial custody until completion of investigation.
According to allegations in the case statement, a group armed with hammers, sticks, and domestic weapons entered Radda MCH-FP Centre in Shah Ali Police Station area, at around 12:05am on Friday.
The raiders scaled boundary wall to gain entry, assaulted two duty night guards, Andriy Sarkar, 43 and Md Abdul Hai, 63, and tied them up. The attackers subsequently smashed the main gate using hammers and brought an excavator inside the premises.
Using the excavator, they demolished a semi-pucca structure measuring approximately 28 feet in length and 15 feet in width on the eastern side, causing an estimated damage of Tk3 lakh.
They then vandalised another semi-pucca room used for family planning services along with its furniture, resulting in a loss of approximately Tk4 lakh according to police.
Moreover, a semi-pucca room measuring around 60 feet by 17 feet used by clinic in-charge, doctor, and deputy clinic in-charge was ransacked along with equipment and furniture, incurring an alleged loss of Tk20 lakh.
The registration branch, measuring approximately 100 feet long and 40 feet wide, was also vandalised, causing damages of around Tk20 lakh.
Additionally, the doors and windows of the brick building housing the ultrasonogram, vaccination, and laboratory rooms were smashed, amounting to a further loss of approximately Tk2 lakh.
The police report said the perpetrators looted various medicines and materials, two ultrasonogram machines, one generator, two computers, two printers, three refrigerators, three air conditioners, and three steel almirahs from the centre, with an estimated value of Tk60 lakh mentioned in the case allegations.
In total, the report submitted to the court by the police indicated that destruction of five rooms, doors, and windows, alongside the looted property, caused total damages of approximately Tk1.09 crore.
Before departing, the attackers intimidated and threatened the night guards and put up a banner and signboard belonging to a shopkeepers’ co-operative society.
FIR naming 200 to 250 persons and confessions of paid attack
Dr Nasreen Akhter, executive director of Radda MCH-FP Centre, lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at Shah Ali Police Station against Md Hanif Mia and 200 to 250 unidentified individuals.
She said the centre has been providing primary healthcare, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) vaccination, and family planning services for nearly 50 years on land obtained through a contract from the government, alleging that the raid stemmed from previous enmity.
According to the FIR, many of the attackers entered wearing red cloths tied around their heads and masks while wielding domestic weapons. They beat and confined the two security personnel before vandalising various structures and rooms.
The clinic management claimed that the looted items included government EPI vaccination materials, vaccination registers and documents, family planning tools and materials, medicines and vaccines, approximately Tk11.40 lakh in cash, an ultrasonogram machine valued at around Tk45 lakh, a generator, three refrigerators, three air conditioners, CCTV cameras, three steel almirahs, five steel file cabinets, laboratory equipment and reagents, two televisions, two computers, two laptops, two printers, and various items of furniture.
The institution estimated its total loss from the attack and looting at approximately Tk1.5 crore.
Police said in their court report that during interrogation, the four arrested men confessed to their involvement, disclosing that they had participated in the attack in exchange for money.
However, as the suspects are not residents of the Shah Ali Police Station area, their names and addresses could not be verified immediately, the IO informed the court.
Police claimed that preliminary investigations yielded evidence of their involvement, warning that granting them bail could disrupt the investigation and lead to them absconding, which prompted the prayer for their detention in prison until the investigation concludes.
A check of station records and CDMS database revealed a previous narcotics case against accused Md Jewel, filed at Shah Ali Police Station on 14 March 2023 under the Narcotics Control Act in which a charge-sheet was submitted on 27 April 2023.
