The complainant in a case over an armed attack on AJR Parcel and Courier Service Ltd in Dhaka’s Hazaribagh has received death threats, with the caller warning that he would be killed unless the dispute was settled by Saturday.
Afsar Uddin, manager of the courier company, received the threatening call around 11pm on Friday. The caller demanded that he arrange a settlement within the deadline, warning that his body would be left on the street otherwise.
The threat came three days after armed assailants attacked the company’s main warehouse on 20 October, vandalising the premises and looting CCTV cameras, a network video recorder (NVR) and other valuable equipment, allegedly to destroy evidence.
The company filed a case with Hazaribagh Police Station on 21 October. Police subsequently launched an investigation and arrested four people in connection with the incident.
Caller demands settlement
An audio recording of the call, made public by the complainant, captures the caller repeatedly threatening Afsar and demanding that he contact the other party to resolve the dispute by Saturday.
The caller questioned why Afsar had filed the case and repeatedly warned that he would be killed if the matter was not settled within the stipulated time.
When Afsar asked the caller to identify himself, the man refused to disclose his name or address and continued using abusive language.
The caller also claimed to know Afsar’s residence, saying he lived on the fourth floor of a building in Dhaka Officers’ Housing Society (DOHS).
Afsar told the caller that the dispute concerned the company and that he was not the owner. He explained that he had filed the case because the company had instructed him to do so.
The caller nevertheless continued to demand a settlement, warning that no one would be able to save Afsar if he failed to make contact by Saturday.
Police verify recording
Hazaribagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mosharraf Hossain said he had spoken to Afsar and received the audio recording of the call.
“I have spoken to the complainant. He has sent me the audio recording of his conversation with the person who threatened him. We are verifying it. We are also looking into where the caller made the call from and other related details,” he said.
The OC said police were treating the threat seriously and investigating it as part of the ongoing case.
Earlier, the officer had identified top criminal Imon as the alleged mastermind behind the attack.
Police have so far arrested four people in connection with the case involving allegations of attack, vandalism and extortion.
