SI Prabir helps ‘Pichchi Raja’ to escape after unlocking prison van
Police uncover new details about drug smuggler ‘Pichchi Raja’s’ escape from prison van
Police have uncovered new information about drug smuggler ‘Pichchi Raja’s’ escape from a prison van while he was being taken from a Dhaka court to Kashimpur Prison.
According to police, Sub-Inspector Prabir Kumar Biswas unlocked the prison van and helped Pichchi Raja get into a private car to facilitate his escape. Later, SI Prabir Kumar allegedly staged a false account of the escape.
In connection with the incident, police have arrested SI Prabir Kumar, prison van driver Nayek Kamal Hossain and Pichchi Raja’s sister, Taslima.
Gazipur Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Israil Howladar revealed the news at a press conference held around 12 noon on Monday (October 5).
He said that on September 27 a prison van carrying 29 accused persons was stopped near Popular Diagnostic Centre in Tantibazar while it was travelling from Dhaka District Judge Court towards Kashimpur. At the spot the prison van’s in-charge, ASI Prabir Kumar Biswas, took the van’s keys from the driver and took out detainees Pichchi Raja and Khairul Bashar from the van.
Khairul Bashar was later taken to the front of the van but Pichchi Raja and ASI Prabir Kumar Biswas did not get back into the vehicle. Pichchi Raja was put into a waiting private car from the spot. Around 8:30pm ASI Prabir Kumar Biswas returned to the scene, got into the prison van and, together with members of the escort team, staged the incident as an escape by an accused.
Based on evidence and statements obtained during the investigation, ASI Prabir Kumar Biswas, van driver Naik Kamal Hossain and Pichchi Raja’s sister Taslima have been arrested and efforts are ongoing to arrest others involved in the incident and fugitive Pichchi Raja.
According to the case and prison authorities, the accused were taken from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur to a Dhaka court on the morning of Sunday, September 27, to attend court proceedings and hearings in their cases. After the court proceedings, while they were being taken back to Kashimpur Jail, Raja alias Pichchi Raja was said to have escaped from the police prison van that night on the pretext of going to the toilet.
Police have been conducting raids to arrest him since then but nearly eight days have passed and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Following the incident, three constables accompanying the prison van—Constable Mohammad Zakir Hossain, Constable Mohammad Sakib and Constable Shakil Hossain—were temporarily suspended on the grounds of alleged negligence of duty and are being questioned.