Major police reshuffle in Dhaka, 32 chiefs of city police stations transferred: Report

Dhaka, Aug 19 (PTI) The chiefs of 32 police stations in Dhaka have been transferred, days after the transfer of the 18 other officers-in-charge, in a major reshuffle after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government in Bangladesh, a media report said on Monday.

The order for the transfer came at midnight on Sunday, the bdnews24.com news portal reported.

With the latest transfer, the heads of all 50 police stations under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police have been transferred now.

The other 18 officers in charge had been transferred on August 13.

According to the report, those transferred will no longer have the ‘command power’ they did as chiefs.

They have been sent to training centres across the country where they have been tasked with training police personnel. Others have been transferred to the Tourist Police, the Armed Police Battalion, or the Industrial Police.

There has been a reshuffling of police at all levels since the ouster of prime minister Hasina on August 5.

Hasina, 76, resigned and fled to India following the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs.

An interim government was formed, and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed as its Chief Adviser.

On August 13, 51 policemen, including three additional IGs, were replaced in three separate notices from the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, according to the report.

On Saturday, 13 officials with the ranks of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) additional deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner were transferred out of the city. Seven other officials were then appointed to the posts of DMP deputy commissioner on the same day, it said.

On Sunday, 73 police officials were promoted to deputy inspector general status, and of them, 31 were elevated from the ranks of superintendents of police, receiving double promotions.

Over 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.

According to the police headquarters, at least 44 police personnel were killed in the conflict.