Railwaygate Probe Body
Sacked APS, his driver fail to appear
The former railway minister's sacked assistant private secretary Omar Faruq Talukder and his driver Ali Azam Khan yesterday failed to appear before the probe body, investigating the cash haul scandal, headed by Bangladesh Railway's director general.
The two-member probe body sent letters to Faruq and Azam last week, asking them to come to the Rail Bhaban by 11:00am yesterday along with their written statements explaining their involvement in the cash haul incident.
Faruq's letter was sent to his Mohammadpur apartment in the capital while Azam's letter to his permanent address in Chandpur district.
“We will again send the letters today asking them to appear tomorrow (Tuesday),” Railway Director General Md Abu Taher told The Daily Star last night.
Faruq went to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and submitted his statement about the scandal on Thursday, but he refrained from facing the railway probe body.
Meanwhile, Azam remains traceless since he drove Faruq's private microbus into the Bangladesh Border Guard's (BGB) Pilkhana headquarters on the night of April 9.
The microbus was carrying Tk 70 lakh alongside Faruq and the now suspended duo, Bangladesh Railway General Manager (East) Yusuf Ali Mridha and its Chief Commandant Enamul Huq. It was reportedly on the way to Suranjit Sengupta's Jigatala residence.
The four were kept in BGB custody that night. BGB claimed that they released the four the next morning.
The incident created sensation across the country and Suranjit Sengupta, who initially tried to defend himself, finally resigned from the post of minister in the face of widespread criticism.
The DG said the probe body was preparing a set of questions to interrogate Yusuf and Enamul. “We will soon serve them notices asking to appear before the probe committee.”
The ministry's Joint Secretary Shashi Kumar Singha is the other member of the probe committee.
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