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Tuesday | October 06, 2026 | Dhaka

Police helped ‘Picchi Raja’ escape, 3 held

 Staff Reporter
 Published: 12:01 AM, 06 October 2026

Dhaka’s Detective Branch (DB) has arrested three people over the escape of a defendant in 30 cases from a police prison van while he was being taken from the Dhaka District and Sessions Judge’s Court to Kashimpur prison in Gazipur. Police say the gangster, known as Picchi Raja, did not escape at Baimile in Gazipur.

They allege that a SI, accompanying the prison van, helped him get away, in exchange for money, in the Tantibazar area of Dhaka. Those arrested are Picchi Raja’s sister and two police officers.

Police Commissioner Md Israil Howlader announced this at a press briefing at Gazipur Metropolitan Police headquarters on Monday afternoon.

He said 30 defendants were taken from Kashimpur Central Jail to the Dhaka courts on the morning of 27 September for appearances and hearings. On the way back to Kashimpur that night, Picchi Raja slipped away from the prison van.

According to the case filed at the time, the van reached the Baimile area of Gazipur at about 8:30pm. A sub-inspector (SI) accompanying the van, Pradip Kumar, allegedly took Picchi Raja off the vehicle to use the toilet, and he ran away. The other 29 defendants were sent to the jail.

Five officers were later suspended for negligence of duty: SI Probir Kumar, constables Md Zakir Hossain, Md Sakib and Shakil Hossain, and the van’s driver, Naik Kamal Hossain.

A three-member investigation committee was formed. The commissioner said the investigation found that the escort party left the Dhaka District Judge’s Court with 29 defendants in the prison van. Near Poplar Diagnostic Centre in Tantibazar, the van was stopped.

The escort party’s in-charge, SI Probir Biswas, took the van keys from the driver, Naik Kamal Hossain. He then took Picchi Raja and another detainee, Khairul Bashar, to the front of the van, and Bashar sat beside the driver’s seat. Picchi Raja and SI Probir did not get back into the van.

Picchi Raja fled from that spot in a waiting private car. SI Probir later went to the location named in the case report at about 8:30pm, boarded the prison van with the escort party, and staged the account set out in the report.

A case was filed at Konabari police station, and on 29 September the investigation was handed to the DB (South) division.

Inspector Syed Mizanur Islam is leading it, assisted by a DB team including Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADC) Ahadur Rahman and Joseph Manzur Chowdhury, and Inspector Nahid Hasan Suman, given the seriousness of the case.

He said the investigators, on the basis of the evidence and exhibits gathered, learned that police had helped the gangster escape in exchange for money.

Picchi Raja’s sister, Taslima, escort leader SI Probir Kumar and driver Naik Kamal Hossain were then arrested over the incident. Police recovered Tk60,000 in cash from Kamal Hossain’s home.

The officer said efforts continue to arrest the other people involved and the fugitive, Picchi Raja.