41St BCS police cadre: 100 candidates face fresh verification

The interim government is re-verifying the backgrounds of 100 persons who passed the 41st Bangladesh civil service exams and were recommended for jobs as police executives.

The second verification process will be conducted to re-examine the political leanings of the candidates and whether they have links to militancy, police officers with knowledge of the development said.

The reassessment will determine whether these individuals will be recruited.

The backgrounds of these candidates had already been checked in a process known as “police verification”. Afterwards, the Bangladesh Public Service Commission recommended recruiting them as police officers.

They have been waiting for a year for basic training at the Bangladesh Police Academy in Sardah, Rajshahi.

The interim government was recently criticized for abruptly postponing a passing out parade for 62 Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) just before the ceremony was to begin on October 19.

On October 20, the Special Branch (SB) of the police took the initiative to re-verify the backgrounds of 100 candidates on behalf of the Police Headquarters (PHQ).

The Supervisory Board is also investigating the background of seven other officers from the 28th, 35th, 36th and 37th BCS batches. In August, the government first let go of the seven officers and then reappointed them, sources said.

The reverification will also be conducted for 62 ASPs recruited through the 40th BCS.

The Daily Star has seen a copy of the order, which states that the order must be kept secret.

The SB’s verification wing will probe their political affiliations and investigate their schools, colleges, universities, dormitories, friendships and whether they had links with militant organisations, the sources said.

The decision states that evaluation reports on the candidates should be collected from people such as journalists, public representatives and police stations.

Specific information about their birthday, national identification number, mobile number, email account, Facebook ID, Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN), passport number, names of their parents and their occupation should also be collected, the sources said.

The decision also stated that the Supervisory Board must complete the process as quickly as possible.

Asked about the issue, SB Special Superintendent (Verification) Kamrul Hasan Mahmud said, “We are carrying out the verification as part of a regular process and on the orders of higher authorities. There is no specific reason behind it.”

The preliminary test of the 41st BCS took place in March 2021 and the written tests in November-December of that year. The viva-voce ended in June last year. The PSC recommended 2,520 candidates for jobs in various cadres in August this year.

Of the successful candidates, 323 were recommended for administration, 100 for police, 25 for foreign services, 108 as assistant surgeons under BCS healthcare, 171 as dentists, 230 for agriculture, 88 for education, 36 for forestry, 76 for livestock, 38 for information, 60 for taxes and 465 candidates for other cadres.

The role of the police during the mass uprising that led to the fall of the government came under scrutiny. The force faced public outrage when officers used excessive force to quell protests. Many police opened fire on protests, killing hundreds of people and leaving many others with life-changing injuries.