Staff Reporter:
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Sheikh Md Sazzad Ali yesterday sounded a note of warning of taking prompt legal action against any sort of extortion from rickshaw drivers.
“No more extortion from the hard-earned income of rickshaw drivers will be allowed and the extortion-ists will not be spared anymore,” he said while a delegation of the battery-run rickshaws and easy bikes drivers met him at his office yesterday.
He asserted that if any police personnel are found involved in extortion, they will face the music.
The DMP commissioner said that officers-in-charge (OCs) of police stations will face suspension if they refuse to file cases of any incident of extortion.
After giving a patient hearing to complaints of extortion by local influential figures, the commissioner said they would not tolerate extortions.
The DMP chief has suggested of forming committees involving police and local community members aimed at checking the extortions.
He called upon the rickshaw drivers to disclose the names of the extortionists to help bring them to jus-tice, saying, “If you see no action being taken, I will quit the job.”
Regarding the High Court order on battery rickshaws, he said a writ petition has already been filed by the government seeking to stay the HC order, and the authorities will act in accordance with the court’s directives.
