Bodybuilder’s death in police custody: Lawyer asked to bring writ ready

The High Court has asked a lawyer to bring a writ ready over the death of bodybuilder Farooq Hossain due to torture in police custody.

The lawyer named Tanvir Ahmed brought the report published in daily newspapers regarding the matter to the attention of the High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah on Thursday (February 1).

Lawyer Tanvir Ahmed told the court that a judicial investigation is needed to launch over the death of bodybuilder Farooq Hossain due to torture in police custody.

In reply, the court told the lawyer to bring a writ ready saying that hearing in this regard will be held on Sunday (February 4).

Earlier on January 30, Farooq’s wife, Ima Akhter Happy filed a case against five policemen, including Inspector Mainul Islam of Bangshal police station, in connection with the death of bodybuilder Farooq Hossain in police custody.

The case was filed in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Asaduzzaman.

The court reserved the file for order after taking the plaintiff’s statement.

The other police officers accused in the case are Sub-Inspector Imdadul Haq, Abu Saleh, Masud Rana, and Bulbul Ahmed, all from Bangshal police station.

According to the complaint, on January 12, Farooq Hossain left his home in Lalbagh for personal reasons and later called his wife, informing her that he was being detained and tortured by some policemen of Kayetuli outpost. Happy rushed to the scene and found Farooq beaten and detained by the policemen.

Happy demanded her husband’s release, but the police claimed Farooq was a big criminal and demanded money for his release.

After negotiations, they reduced the amount from Tk1 lakh to Tk50,000. The police accused Farooq of being a drug dealer and beat him severely. Later, Farooq was taken to Banshal police station on a motorcycle.

Despite Happy’s pleas, the police did not release her husband, and they instructed her to contact the CMM court the next day. When Happy went to inquire about her husband the next day, she found out that a case of 150 grams of drugs had been filed against Farooq.

On January 15, around 8:30am, she received information that Farooq had died. At the hospital morgue, she observed injury marks on his neck, chest, and back.