The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has identified a crime ring involved in misappropriating money fining the consumers of Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Dhaka (Wasa) after finding inconsistency in water metres and connections.
The elite force has already detained five members of the crime racket who had been collecting money by threatening the consumers of disconnecting their water supplies and legal action.
The detainees are Liton Sardar, Rafiqul Islam, Ziaur Rahman, Dulal Hossain and Biplob Mia.
Biplob Mia is assistant of Wasa's Mirpur office Inspector Jahir Uddin. Liton Sikder is the impersonator of Wasa Deputy Assistant Engineer Emdadul Haq while Rafiqul Islam used to identify himself as a sanitary worker, and Zia and Dulal as Wasa employees.
According to Rab, the fraud ring members used to identify themselves as Wasa inspectors had been detecting flawed water supply lines and metres, and then realising money threatening them of tough action.
Rab 3 media officer Abdul Karim said:“We have been carrying out raids against such fraudulent groups which had been impersonating Wasa inspection team. We have already detained five such fraudsters and interrogated in phases.“
“They detainees divulged some important information, based on which we are trying to nab the rest members of the crime racket,” he added.
According to the Rab official, the detained fraudsters used to possess and carry seals, stamp pads, cover files, holding number list and receipts of due bills of Wasa and its engineers' fake ID cards to frighten the clients and reslise money from them easily.
During the raid, the elite force seized three seals, a stamp pad, a hammer, a torch light, a hacksaw blade, a cover file with Dhaka Wasa written on it, a holding survey list, due bills and ID cards.
Wasa's Mirpur office Executive Officer Md Abdul Majid, when contacted, suggested the reporter to contact Revenue Office Nasir Uddin of Dhaka Wasa.
When contacted over the official cell number Nasir Uddin, another official attended the call, saying:“Nasir has been transferred as I have replaced him.“
The official, without disclosing his identity, in his reply to his query about the allegation straight away said the office time was over.
“If you want to know about the matter, please ring during office hours,“ he said.
bbarta/SN
