An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) in Naogaon has been accused of taking bribe from a woman during an anti-narcotics raid.
The officer, ASI Md Abdul Momin, allegedly took Tk10,000 and later demanded another Tk40,000.
He has denied the allegations, calling them “completely false, fabricated, and baseless”.
The alleged incident took place on Monday afternoon in Jagpara village under Mithapur Union in Badalgachhi upazila of Naogaon.
The victim, Smriti, is the wife of Sanjay Kumar Mondal.
Smriti said a team of four to five DNC officials arrived at their home around 1:30pm to search for drugs on suspicion that her husband was involved in drug peddling.
She alleged that Momin slapped her husband twice despite knowing that he suffers from several health problems, including heart disease. Their elder daughter fainted after seeing her father being assaulted, she said.
The officials initially demanded Tk1 lakh and threatened to implicate her husband in a drug case and arrest her when she said they could not arrange the money, the victim alleged.
She said she handed over Tk10,000 that had been kept for her physically challenged son’s medical treatment. The officials allegedly demanded another Tk40,000 and forced her to take an oath by placing her hand on her disabled son’s head that she would pay the remaining amount.
Smriti said Momin gave her a visiting card and asked her to bring the money to Naogaon. She later spoke to him several times by telephone, she added.
A 43-second audio recording of a related phone conversation was obtained on Wednesday night. In the recording, a woman says, “I couldn’t arrange it yesterday.” The other person asks where she is and tells her to “come to the office today”.
The woman says she had visited the jail gate and that her husband had advised her to hand over “whatever is demanded”.
It could not be independently verified whether the voice is that of Momin.
During the raid, DNC officials detained Sanjay Kumar Mondal, 42, and local resident Bikash Mondal, 40. They were later produced before a mobile court and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment each.
Badalgachhi Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Israt Jahan Soni confirmed that DNC officials brought the two men before her and that they were sentenced by a mobile court after being found in an intoxicated state.
She said she was unaware of any money being taken and that there was no question of the mobile court being connected to such allegations. She added that she would speak to DNC officials about what action could be taken against Momin.
ASI Momin denied discussing money with Smriti, saying, “I had no conversation with that woman regarding money. Many people call my mobile number. She called me yesterday as well, but I spoke with her for only about 30 seconds. No money was discussed,” he said.
He claimed that the woman had called him as part of a planned attempt to frame him.
Md Alamgir Hossain, deputy director of the Naogaon district DNC, said he was unaware of the complaint and had heard about it for the first time from the media. He confirmed that the two detained men were involved with drugs and were sentenced by the mobile court accordingly.
DNC Inspector Saiful Alam confirmed participating in the raid but said the team had split into two groups to search several houses. He said he did not go to Sanjay’s house and therefore could not say what happened there.
