Following a brazen knife attack by muggers that left a police inspector critically injured in Khulna city late Thursday night (October 3), the district police administration has issued a strict directive instructing all force members to avoid traveling alone at night. The internal order, signed by the Superintendent of Police of the District Intelligence Branch (DSB), was disseminated to all relevant offices and police stations across the district on Friday night (October 4).
According to the official directive, the instruction comes in light of the prevailing law and order situation and ongoing special operations across Rupsa, Terokhada, Dighalia, and Batiaghata upazilas, which were launched following a string of recent violent incidents including attacks on law enforcement personnel. Unit in-charges have been directed to take necessary measures to ensure the personal safety of officers deployed in special operations and other official duties.
Detailing the incident, Khulna Superintendent of Police Sarkar Mohammad Omar Faruk stated that Inspector Shah Alam, 43, was returning home by rickshaw in civilian clothes after conducting a special operation in Rupsa upazila late Thursday night. As he crossed the ferry and reached in front of Khulna Collegiate Girls School on Khanjahan Ali Road around 2:30 AM, three muggers intercepted his rickshaw, snatching his two mobile phones and wallet. When he attempted to resist the muggers, the assailants struck him with sharp machetes, severly slashing both of his wrists.
Police personnel subsequently rescued the injured officer and rushed him to a local hospital. Following a rapid deterioration in his medical condition, he was transferred to Dhaka for advanced treatment and remains hospitalized at a private clinic in the capital. Superintendent Faruk emphasized that the nighttime travel restriction was instituted solely to safeguard force members from falling victim to criminal elements after completing their duties. Addressing concerns that the order might project a sense of vulnerability, the Superintendent clarified that the communication was an internal administrative measure meant to prioritize personnel safety rather than a reflection of systemic helplessness.
The ongoing security crackdown by the Khulna district police began on Tuesday night (October 1) with the primary objective of apprehending criminals and recovering illegal firearms. The special drive was initiated in the wake of back-to-back high-profile murders in the region, which included the fatal shooting of Akhtar Dhali in Rupsa on Monday—occurring just a month and a half after the killing of his son, Joy Dhali—alongside the shooting of another individual at a tea stall in the Formaishkhana area of Dighalia.
