Prothom Alo reporter Shams detained from home

Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams has been led away from his home in Savar by people who identified themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams has been led away from his home in Savar by people who identified themselves as members of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Savar Police Station chief Deepak Chandra Saha said he had ‘heard’ similar reports, but Md Imam Hasan, DIG of Dhaka Division CID, said, “Nothing of the sort has happened.”
Shams was the reporter who wrote the Mar 26 Prothom Alo piece that recently stirred controversy. He is also the younger brother of Rabiul Islam, the assistant commissioner of police who lost his life in the 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attack.
Prothom Alo Executive Editor Sajjad Sharif confirmed the development on Wednesday morning. “We are taking the necessary action to address this," he said.
Shams lived in a house in the Ambagan area next to Jahangirnagar University. The Savar correspondent of a news outlet was a witness to the incident.
Shams was a student of Jahangirnagar University and the two became acquainted through that connection, the reporter told bdnews24.com. Shams called him to the house and he spent the night.
“We were sleeping in two separate rooms, but he woke me up at 4 am saying, ‘Get up, the police are here’. I saw five people in the room. One of them was entering Shams Bhai’s room. They seized his phone, laptop, and a portable hard disk.”
Prothom Alo reporter Samsuzzaman Shams detained from home
They took a bag out of his wardrobe and put them inside and led away Shams, according to the reporter. They returned to the house 45 minutes later, the reporter said.
“They took photos of Shams Bhai in the room and made a list of the objects they confiscated. They got the signatures of me and the landlord. When the landlord asked who they were, they said, ‘We are from the CID.'"
The reporter said that, when they returned, they were accompanied by Jahangirnagar University Security Officer Sudipta Shaheen and Ashulia Police Station Sub Inspector Raju Mondol
Sudipta Shaheen could not be reached for comment and SM Kamruzzaman, chief of Ashulia Police Station, rejected phone calls from bdnews24.com.
Some people came with a neighbour, saying they were from the CID, according to Ferdous Alam Kabir, the landlord of the house. “They ordered the gate opened and asked if Shams the journalist lived here.”
Ferdous then knocked on Shams’s door and woke him up.
“They took Shams, his mobile, and laptop and left. They said they were taking Shams to the Bottola area for Sehri.”
“They returned sometime later. There were six or seven of them. One of them was wearing a police uniform. Then they took Shams and left. The roads in the Ambagan area are narrow so they parked their vehicles in the university area and walked to the house."