Janaza attended by thousands: Probe body finds OC's negligence

The probe committee has found proof of negligence in duty against former officer-in-charge of Sarail police station Shahadat Hossain over the failure to prevent a large crowd from attending a funeral prayer of an Islamist leader in Brahmanbaria amid risk of coronavirus spread.

The three-member probe committee recommended taking divisional action against the OC due to his failure to tackle the situation.

The report prepared by the investigation committee has been submitted to the police headquarters.

The probe committee chief and Chattogram range additional deputy inspector general Iqbal Hossain said on Saturday (May 2), "Our duty was to investigate the incident and we have completed the investigation. We have placed several recommendations so that such incident can not be repeated in future."

Several thousand people attended the funeral of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish senior vice-president Zubayer Ahmed Ansari at Sarail in Brahmanbaria on April 18 ignoring calls from different quarters to maintain physical distancing and hygiene to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Brahmanbaria assistant superintendent of police (Sarail circle) Masud Rana, the Sarail police station inspector (investigation) Nurul Haque and the officer-in-charge of Sarail police station Shahadat Hossain were withdrawn from their duties over the irresponsibility.

The police headquarters launched an inquiry over the incident the following day.

Dhaka/Maksud/AI