Gulshan police chief withdrawn five days after Awami League rally

Gulshan Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Md Daud Hossain has been withdrawn from his post, five days after a flash rally organized by leaders and activists of the Awami League and its affiliated organisations in the capital’s Gulshan area.

A Dhaka Metropolitan Police order signed by Commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed on Wednesday (September 16) said Daud had been attached to the DMP headquarters and the Central Reserve Office under its administration department.

The development came after the September 11 rally in Gulshan-1, where several hundred activists of the banned Awami League and its affiliated organisations gathered for a sudden procession.

Police moved to disperse them, following which two crude bombs exploded. Police later fired two rounds of rubber bullets and said five unexploded crude bombs were recovered from the scene.

Several people were detained and later arrested over the incident. A case was filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and additional suspects were subsequently arrested and sent to jail by court order.

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed had said on September 15 that intelligence agencies had prior information about the planned procession. He said police had failed to properly assess or act on the information at the relevant time, while adding that it would not be appropriate to describe the incident outright as an intelligence failure.

The withdrawal order came a day after the minister’s remarks. The official order, however, did not state a reason for Daud’s removal from the Gulshan police station.