A police constable who had already been suspended after testing positive in a dope test has been detained by local residents at an alleged drug-taking gathering in Rajshahi city. The accused officer, Mehedi Hasan, was held by residents at a house in the Hetemkha Lichubagan area at around 9:30 pm on Saturday before being handed over to the police.
According to local residents and police sources, people in the neighbourhood grew suspicious of narcotics consumption inside a residence in Hetemkha Lichubagan on Saturday night. Upon entering the premises, they found Mehedi inside and confined him before alerting Boalia Police Station. A police team soon arrived at the scene, took the constable into custody, and seized various items of drug-consumption paraphernalia from the room.
Mehedi Hasan, whose ancestral home is in Sirajganj district, currently lives in the Bhadra area of Rajshahi city. Several months ago, while posted at Charghat Police Station in Rajshahi district, allegations of drug use surfaced against him. When authorities subjected him to a dope test, the result came back positive. He was subsequently suspended from active duty and attached to the Rajshahi District Police Lines—a standard administrative measure that withdraws an officer from operational policing pending disciplinary action. A departmental case was also initiated against him, and that inquiry remains underway.
Following Saturday night’s detention, police took Mehedi to the station for legal and medical assessment. Boalia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Masuma Mustari explained that although clear paraphernalia associated with drug consumption was recovered from the room where Mehedi was found, officers did not discover any actual narcotics on him or at the premises. Because no contraband substances were seized, police could not file a direct criminal case against him under the Narcotics Control Act.
OC Mustari added that Mehedi underwent a fresh dope test at the Divisional Police Hospital shortly after his detention, which returned a negative result. Police are now preparing an official report detailing the incident and sending him back to the District Police Lines.
Contacted regarding the matter, Rajshahi District Police spokesperson and Additional Superintendent of Police (Special Branch) Sabina Yasmin confirmed that Mehedi had been suspended and attached to the Police Lines months earlier following his positive dope test. She noted that she had been informed of his latest detention by residents at a drug gathering, a development expected to be reviewed alongside his ongoing departmental proceedings.
