Primary textbooks stolen from DPEO store seized

21 December 2009, 17:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Pabna

District administration and Rapid Action Battalion seized huge primary textbooks meant for free distribution from the kitchen of a house at Narayanpur in Pabna town yesterday. The books were stolen from the warehouse of District Primary Education Office.Photo: STAR

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion on Sunday night seized 1,620 primary textbooks meant for free distribution from a house in Pabna town and arrested one person. Receiving a tip-off that a syndicate stole primary textbooks from a warehouse of District Primary Education Office (DPEO) and are selling those in black market, a Rab team, led by the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Pabna, raided the office at around 9:00pm. The team quizzed night guard Md Shariful Islam Joni who confessed to stealing the textbooks and keeping them at a house of one Abdur Rahman at Narayanpur in the town. The team along with Joni went to Rahman's house at around 10:00pm and recovered the textbooks from a kitchen. The Rab men picked up Rahman from there and released him after interrogation. Rab arrested night guard Joni on charge of stealing the textbooks and handed him over to Pabna Sadar Police Station. Police produced Joni in a court here yesterday, seeking a five-day remand. The court will hear the remand prayer today, court sources said. Around 13 lakh primary textbooks are required for 2010 education year in Pabna. The government has so far allocated 11 lakh textbooks for free distribution among the primary students of the district, an official said. District Primary Education Office has started sending textbooks to different upazilas and distribution will begin in the first week of January 2010, he added. Rab official Md Akhterul Alam told newsmen that night guard Joni, during preliminary interrogation, confessed to his involvement in stealing the textbooks books. A three-member committee headed by the additional District Primary Education Officer (ADPEO) has been formed to investigate the matter. “If any official is involved in stealing the textbooks, he will be punished,” District Primary Education Officer Dilruba Begum said.