ASP Anisul’s Death: Director of Mind Hospital arrested, 4 others on run

Three days into the death of senior ASP Anisul Karim allegedly due to beating by staffers of Mind Aid Psychiatry and De-Addiction Hospital in the capital’s Adabor, four of its shareholders are still on the run.

The four are Abdullah Al Mamun, Sakhawat Hossain, Sazzad Amin and Fatema Khatun Moyna.

The other shareholder, Dr Md Niaz Morshed, was arrested on Tuesday night from the capital’s National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in the murder case filed by the father of the deceased. The arrestee was undergoing treatment there for paralysis.

Walid Hossain, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said they have prayed to a local court to show Niaz arrested in the case. The arrestee would continue receiving treatment under police custody, he added.

Law enforcers earlier arrested the hospital’s 10 staffers, now on seven-day remand each.

Police said the hospital was being run without clearance and licence from related government departments. The facility was closed by police on Tuesday.

Anisul’s father Faijuddin Ahmed filed the case with Adabor Police Station on Tuesday, accusing 15 people, including the five shareholders of the hospital, over murdering his 35-year-old son.

According to family members, Anisul had been suffering from mental stress. He kept quiet for three to four days before being admitted to the hospital on Monday.

Analysing the CCTV footage of the hospital, it was seen that Anisul was dragged into a soundproof room by several staffers and thrown to the ground by six employees.

Two more employees dressed in blue grabbed his leg and two others hit him with their elbow. Hospital staffer Arif was present all the while. Anisul’s hands were tied behind his back with a piece of blue cloth.

There were no doctors at the soundproof room, police said.

Anisul, appointed as a police officer in the 31st special BCS, was working for Barishal Metropolitan Police (traffic). Earlier, he had served the DMP, Rapid Action Battalion, and the Police Headquarters.

Hailing from Kapasia of Gazipur, he was father of a child.

COPS VISIT GAZIPUR HOME

Four-year-old Safran, son of the deceased Anisul, is too small to understand what happened to his father.

He was looking for his father yesterday when police officers in uniform visited their house in Gazipur’s Jorpukur Boruda area to console the bereaved family members. Among the visitors were officials from Gazipur, Tejgaon of Dhaka and also Anisul’s batchmates.

Speaking to journalists, Anisul’s sister Dr Umme Salma said, “We took our brother there [hospital] thinking that he would get relief from stress if he undergoes psychiatric counselling for two to three days. But you have seen what happened after that… It’s unbearable.”

DMP Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon division) Harun-Ur-Rashid assured family members of filing the charge sheet in the murder case very soon. He termed the incident “an obvious murder”.

Policemen, including at least 20 batchmates of Anisul, also visited his grave.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said action would be taken against those found responsible for the death of the senior ASP.

“An investigation into the hospital and its employees is underway. The health department will be informed in this regard, if needed,” he told reporters at the home ministry.

‘AN HONEST OFFICER’

Files, telephones, chairs and tables at Anisul’s office room at the traffic department of Barishal Metropolitan Police are there, but he will never return.

His colleagues remembered his last day at work on Saturday. He went to Dhaka on November 8 with his family on a 10-day leave due to a family necessity, said BMP sources.

“Anisul Karim sir was an honest officer,” said Traffic Inspector Abdur Rahim.

BMP Deputy Commissioner Jakir Hossain Majumder said he did not notice anything unusual in the ASP’s behaviour at the office.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of such a hardworking police officer. He had scored 194 out of 200 to stand first in the police special BCS exam. It’s a great loss for all of us,” he added.