Staff Correspondent
Detained Milton Samadder, founder of the charity organization "Child and Old Age Care", will be interrogated regarding allegations of irregularities against the organization.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB) chief Additional Commissioner Harun-or-Rashid said this to journalists during a press briefing at the DB office hours after detaining Milton on Wednesday.
Milton's detention follows a storm of criticism and discussion triggered by an April investigative report published in a daily newspaper.
"Several media interviews quote Milton Samadder claiming he has an unauthorized operation theatre (OT). We will quiz him on why he set up an OT without any license and proper authorization," said Harun.
He further said: "Particularly, there are allegations against him involving human trafficking and the sale of organs of children and the elderly. We will investigate these allegations seriously. We will also examine whether the donations he received were properly utilized, and look into the complaints of abuse by the guardians of children and the elderly who were under the care of his shelter home."
Regarding the claim that he conducted 900 burials and forged doctor's signatures on death certificates, Harun said: "We will investigate these allegations in detail."
The DB chief added: "We have received numerous complaints against Milton. He claimed to have two ashrams. In his Savar ashram, he said there were 500 to 700 people, but we found only 20 to 30 people there. We have brought him in, and some complainants will file cases. We will interrogate him on remand to determine how many people went to him for treatment and how many died. We will also investigate whether he was involved in selling kidneys through the operation theatre in his ashram."
A team of DB detained Milton Samadder from Mirpur area in the capital.
He was detained around 7:30pm.
The process to file case against Milton is underway, said the DB chief.
On April 25, various fraud allegations against Milton Samaddar surfaced in a national daily.
It was reported that more than 16 mobile banking numbers and three bank accounts received about Tk10,00,000 monthly.
Many people also donated directly to his institution. According to allegations, he misused these funds.
Allegations include the illegal trade of human organs, specifically pointing to the cutting and selling of kidneys.
The revelations led to individuals speaking out and a flurry of discussions on social media, culminating in Samadder's detainment.
Milton Samaddar has also received three national awards for his humanitarian work.
