An executive engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in Shariatpur, has assaulted two TV journalists as they filmed him while he was doing drugs in his office.
The incident took place in the office room of Asaduzzaman Mridul, executive engineer of Shariatpur Public Health Engineering Department, around 5pm on Thursday.
The victim informed the local journalists and top government officials about the incident and lodged a complaint with the Palang Model Police Station at around 10 pm. Tensions have been running high among the district's unique journalists since the incident.
The harassed journalists are: Shariatpur Electronic Media Journalists Association President, ATN Bangla and ATN News and Bangladesh Pratidin District Correspondent Roknuzzaman Parvez and Joint Editor and Gazi TV Correspondent Md. Manik Mollah. The organisation has strongly condemned the incident.
Roknuzzaman Parvez, district correspondent of ATN Bangla and ATN News and Bangladesh Pratidin, said that irregularities were found in the construction of a deep tube well water pump at a cost of around Tk 2 crore in Shariatpur Sadar Domsar Union under the Department of Public Health Engineering in Shariatpur.
When the engineer was contacted over the phone, he told journalist Manik Mollah that he will be in his office at around 4.30 pm. Later at around 5 o’clock, two of us went to the office of the Department of Public Health Engineering in Shariatpur.
I went up to the second floor and entered the office of the executive engineer and saw him smoking a cigarette. Later I smelled cannabis.
Gazi TV journalist Monik Mollah, who was with me at the time, tried to capture the scene of the drug use on camera. In this situation, the engineer snatched the camera from the journalist’s hand.
Blocked the gate of his office for about an hour and threatened to beat him up. In this situation, when he called the district administrator, he opened the gate lock.
He further said that then the executive engineer Asaduzzaman got mildly agitated and tried to beat us up. At that time, I tried to report the incident to the District Commissioner and local journalists on my mobile phone.
Then, the executive engineer snatched my mobile phone. The senior journalist has lodged a complaint with the police.
Asaduzzaman Mridul, executive engineer of the Department of Public Health Engineering in Shariatpur, was repeatedly called to know about the matter but could not be reached.
Shahiduzzaman Khan, general secretary of the Shariatpur Electronic Media Journalists Association and district correspondent of Banglavision, said it was unfortunate that a drug-addicted officer would sit in an office and then insult journalists. I demand the arrest and proper investigation of that officer.
Officer-in-charge of Palang Model Police Station Aslam Uddin said, "I have received a complaint of misbehavior with journalists." The incident will be investigated and legal action will be taken.
Shariatpur Deputy Commissioner Kazi Abu Taher said he had heard about the incident with reporters. The victim journalists have been asked to lodge a complaint. The ministry will be informed to take action against the accused if any complaint is received.
