Senior ASP Anisul ‘beaten to death’ in hospital

Both police and the family have blamed the employees and the authorities of Mind Aid hospital for the death of Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Anisul Karim Shipon.

Calling the death, a murder, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mohammad Harun-ur-Rashid on Tuesday said that it was not an accident.

"The way the staffers (of the psychiatric and de-addiction hospital) dragged him into a room, pushed him to the ground and beat him, it was a clear case of murder," he said at a press briefing at his office in Tejgaon on Tuesday.

He said all those involved in the incident will be put on trial.

According to Harun-ur-Rashid, the hospital authorities were unable to produce valid documentation and license required to run a mental hospital.

He said the hospital neither had doctors nor permission from the Department of Narcotics Control to run its operation.

Police will also investigate why ASP Anisul was transferred from the government-run National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital to this private facility.

"We will also look into whether any brokers and/or middle-men were involved behind his transfer to Mind Aid," he said.

Ten individuals have already been arrested and put on a seven-day remand in this connection.

The arrestees are – Marketing Manager, Arif Mahmud Joy; Coordinator, Redwan Sabbir; cook, Md Masud; pharmacist, Tanvir Hasan; ward boys, Jobayer Hossain, Tanif Molla, Sanjib Chowdhury, Ashim Chandra Paul, Md Liton Ahmed, and Md Saiful Islam Palash.

On Tuesday morning, Shipon's father, Faizuddin Ahmed filed a murder case with Adabar Police Station against 15 individuals.

Kazi Shahiduzzaman, Officer-in-Charge of the police station, said, "We have CCTV footage from the hospital, and we can see that hospital employees beat Anisul to death.

"We are trying to arrest the other accused. A patient is currently under treatment. We contacted the family of the patient, and we will seal the hospital after his release."

The elder brother of victim, Sobuj, told The Business Standard that Anisul had been suffering from great mental stress since last Thursday. Over the last few days, he was aloof and distant and did not want to communicate with family members. Senior police officials advised him to consult specialist psychiatrists.

Sobuj said, "We went to the National Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, but we could not get a doctor there. Then we went to Mind Aid hospital.

Responding to a query, he told The Business Standard that Anisul felt frustrated over his profession and family. 

Rabiul Islam Lelin, an additional deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and a batchmate of the deceased, said, "Anisul was a very kind-hearted, empathetic police officer. He served a lot of people during the Covid-19 pandemic. The police have lost a gem of a human being."

What happened in the hospital room?

Anisul Karim died minutes after he was taken to the Mind Aid hospital.

His brother, Sobuj, said that the hospital staffers had beaten him to death, an accusation denied by the hospital authorities. They claimed that they had tried to calm Anisul down as he was being aggressive.

Police have also collected CCTV footage of the incident from the hospital.

The footage shows that Anisul Karim was dragged into a room by several staffers at around 11:55pm on Monday. He was thrown on the ground by six employees.

Two other employees dressed in blue then grabbed his leg and two other staffers proceeded to bash the side of his head with their elbows. Arif Mahmud, the hospital manager, was standing by.

Anisul's hands were tied behind his back with a piece of blue cloth.

When Anisul was turned around to face them four minutes later, his body was limp. He did not move even when an employee splashed water on his face. The staff then cleaned the floor. Seven minutes later, a woman wearing a white apron entered the room and the door was shut for 11 minutes.

She pumped his chest for 13 minutes.

Sobuj said, "We were talking about admissions at the hospital's front desk while Anisul was in the toilet with a boy on the second floor. Our sister Umme Kulsum wanted to accompany him, but she was not allowed by the staff."

He further said, a staff had misbehaved with Anisul. The boy called other staffers, took him to a room and beat him mercilessly, eventually killing him.

ASP laid to rest in Gazipur

The senior ASP was buried at Gazipur City Central Graveyard in his hometown at 9:30am on Tuesday.

His namaz-e-janaza had been held earlier at Bhawal Rajbari ground.

Anisul Karim, appointed as a police officer in the 31st Bangladesh Civil Service batch, was posted in Barishal Metropolitan Police.

Hailing from Kapasia, he is a father of one. He was a student of the 33^rd batch of the Department of Biochemistry and Biopsychology in Jahangirnagar University.