Police have arrested two people for allegedly entering a house posing as detectives and extorting money by threatening the occupants in Savar.
The two were arrested during a drive in Bank Colony area of Savar municipality on Wednesday morning. Four stamped papers and a mobile phone were recovered from them.
The arrestees are Md Ashraful, 23, general secretary of the Savar municipal unit of Ziya Projonmo Dal, and Russell alias Rohan, 22, a Jatiotabadi Chatradal activist. Both are from Zafarganj area of Shibalaya upazila in Manikganj and currently live in Savar.
They were later sent to court.
The other accused were Abdullah alias Abullah, 22, of Bank Colony in Savar municipality, and Md Hira, 24, and Nazmul, 20, both from the same area. All three were members of a juvenile gang, locals said.
According to the case statement, private university student Md Rabbi Khan, 23, went to his friend Sanjoy Mondal’s house in Kazi Mokmapara area on Monday night to see him as he was ill.
Around 9:15pm, Rohan knocked on the door and later entered the house with several others who identified themselves as members of DB police. They searched the house, threatened Rabbi and his friends and seized their mobile phones, demanding Tk 1 lakh from each person.
At one point, Ashraful allegedly pulled out a switchgear knife, held the victims hostage and threatened to kill them. The accused also allegedly forced Rabbi and his friend Rakib Mia to sign four stamped papers stating that they owed Tk 2.5 lakh.
Later, when Rabbi’s cousin Zakir and friend Junaid arrived, the accused allegedly demanded money from them as well. They collected Tk 29,000 after withdrawing Tk 20,000 from an ATM and taking another Tk 9,000 from them, according to the case statement.
The accused also allegedly took Tk 2,700 from Rabbi’s bKash account, Tk 800 from Sanjoy’s Nagad account and two mobile phones, including one sent by Sanjoy’s expatriate relative.
Rabbi later filed a case against five people with Savar Model Police Station.
Police said two of the accused have been arrested while efforts are underway to arrest the others.
Savar Model Police Station OC Saiful Alam said the first and second accused were arrested and sent to court, and police operations to arrest the remaining accused are continuing.