The Ministry of Public Administration has withdrawn Trishal Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Arafat Siddiqui following an alleged assault on an employee of a sand quarry leaseholder, reports Prothom Alo.
The ministry issued a notification yesterday (13 August), attaching the UNO to the ministry. The move comes a day after Arafat allegedly assaulted the leaseholder’s employee on Wednesday, with CCTV footage of the incident later going viral on social media.
The roughly one-minute footage appears to show the UNO slapping the man twice and hitting him with a stick.
Assistant Commissioner (Land) Md Mahbubur Rahman and members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were also present at the scene.
The incident occurred at a sand-selling point in the Kulurbari area of Kalir Bazar under the Kanthal Union of the Upazila. Meanwhile, a reconciliation meeting over the incident was held from 3pm to 5pm at a hospital in Trishal municipality, with lawmaker Mahbubur Rahman present. Representatives of the leaseholder and local BNP leaders and activists attended the meeting.
At one point, the UNO joined the meeting and expressed regret over the previous day’s incident. After the meeting, Arafat told reporters, “We sat together at the initiative of the lawmaker.
There is no such issue between us now.” Asked whether he would apologise for the alleged assault, he said, “While carrying out lawful activities, something like this suddenly happened. So, of course, I express my regret over it.”
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