A TTE of Bangladesh Railway's (BR's) Pakshey division in Pabna's Ishwardi upazila, Shafiqul Islam, has been suspended for "fining three people who boarded the Dhaka-bound Sundarbans Express at Ishwardi junction without tickets.
The suspension order was issued on Friday a day after the three persons were travelling without tickets claiming to be relatives of Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan.
However in face of widespread criticism, the minister later said he is not sure whether the travellers are his relatives.
He said:"I have no information about who they are. As a result, I do not know if anyone claimed to be my relative. And everyone from my constituency can say they are my relatives because they voted for me, but that does not mean they can ride the train without a ticket."
"If the TTE had fined even my wife and children for not buying tickets while travelling by train, I would support him," he added.
The minister further said that the TTE might be trying to hide his offence and save himself by making up such a story.
The TTE will be rewarded if the allegations against him were proved wrong, the minister assured.
Railways authorities said they suspended Shafiqul after one of the three passengers filed a complaint of misconduct in Dhaka on Thursday.
According to the suspended TTE, the three persons identified themselves as relatives of the railways minister.
The incident triggered anger among the netizens as it is very rare for a government employee to be punished so soon after receiving a complaint from an ordinary citizen.
"Three passengers entered the AC cabin of the Sundarbans Express without tickets, introducing themselves as relatives of the railways minister," Shafiqul Islam said.
"After contacting senior officials, I gave them three non-AC tickets worth Tk 1,050 and gave them receipts. I didn't misbehave with them at the time, and they didn't say anything. There is no question of misbehaving with them. I heard that the passengers had complained against me to the high-ups and then I was suspended," he added.
Imrul Kayes Pranto, one of the three passengers, however, filed a complaint claiming that the TTE approached them and demanded Tk 500 from each of them, and when they refused to pay, he misbehaved.
A three-member committee was formed to investigate the incident. The assistant transportation officer of railway, Pakshey Division will lead the committee.
Meanwhile, Transparency International Bangladesh called upon Nurul Islam Sujan to step down from his post temporarily for the sake of a free, fair and impartial investigation into the suspension.
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