MP Rumin Farhana Clashes With Police Chief at Sarail Station, Levels Bribery Allegations
Member of Parliament Barrister Rumin Farhana, who represents Brahmanbaria-2, has become embroiled in a heated public argument with the officer-in-charge (OC) at Sarail police station in Brahmanbaria, accusing OC Monjur Kader Bhuiyan of bribery and other corruption during a confrontation in his office on Thursday night.
According to witnesses, during the recent Durga Puja the MP had asked for security while visiting puja pavilions, but the OC did not arrange it. She went to the station at around 8pm on Thursday to ask why no security was provided and to raise allegations of irregularities against him, remaining in his office until 9pm.
During the visit, a man accompanying her alleged that the OC had taken a bribe of 30,000 taka from him. The OC denied the allegation and claimed the MP had coached the man to make it. That exchange is what turned the meeting into a heated argument.
At one point Rumin Farhana told the OC that he had been a big Awami League figure and that she knew his history, although she said that was not her concern. Witnesses said the remark further heated the atmosphere in the room.
Responding to the allegations, OC Monjur Kader Bhuiyan said the MP had arrived at the station with hundreds of people and created unrest, bringing some people along coached to make offensive remarks. On the allegation of taking money from brick kilns, he said all the brick kilns in the haor area are under water.
On security, the OC said arrangements had been made across the entire station area during the puja, but keeping a dedicated police team with the MP personally at that time was difficult. That explanation was at the centre of the MP's anger.
Rumin Farhana countered that the OC had said she was an elected MP and the people would provide her security. She said the people indeed protect her, which is why she can move around, but such a remark from an OC was unacceptable.
She further alleged that the OC takes money from the soil and brick businesses and extorts money by implicating innocent people in cases. She claimed that Jahangir, home affairs adviser of the interim government, had publicly spoken of specific corruption allegations against this OC and called for his removal.
The MP said the area is prone to riots, and police arrive only after everything has calmed down. She said she had come to the station to raise exactly these issues, and that the OC's behaviour toward her was not behaviour that can be shown to an elected representative.
Attempts were made several times to reach the district superintendent of police, Md Jalal Uddin Fahim, for comment, but he did not respond. The formal position of the senior police authorities is therefore still unknown.
The public clash between an MP and a station chief has sparked fresh discussion in the local administration. Attention is now on whether the allegations will be investigated or any departmental step taken.
