A vendor was allegedly tortured to death by police for his failure to pay the toll to Savar Police on Wednesday night. The victim has been identified as Ripon Mia (26).The Police picked Ripon from a tea stall near the entrance of National Memorial at Nabinagar area at Savar around 10:00pm. The victim’s family was informed about his death on Thursday morning.Ripon’s wife Sathi Akhter alleged that police tortured her husband to death for his failure to pay the money asked for. Sathi was with her husband when he was nabbed by the police, she said.Ashulia Police Station ASI Anwar Hossain, who was patrolling the area, demanded Tk. one thousand from Ripon, she alleged. “As Ripon refused to give the money the ASI beat him up and whisked him away in a police van”, she accused. Police told her in the morning that Ripon died in a road crash and his body was kept at Gonosastho Hospital, she said. “Police have killed my husband failing to get the money,” Sathi alleged.The ASI was accompanied by constables Emdadul Haque and Ruhul Amin when Ripon was picked up, she said. Gonosastho Hospital’s doctor Kowshik Ahmed said that the police brought the body of Ripon to the hospital around 10:30 pm on Wednesday. The doctor said, the body bore marks marks of wounds.ASI Hossain was not available for his comment. Dhaka district’s Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rasel Sheikh said Ripon was critically injured in a road crash. “I heard that pedestrians rescued him and took him to the hospital,” he said.The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) for autopsy, Rasel said. Action would be taken against the ASI if the allegations by the victim’s family proved correct, ASP Rasel said.No case was filed with any police station over the incident till the time of filing the report on Thursday night.
