Abductors in action

Photo: Banglar Chokh

The body of a Sirajganj man, who had been missing for six days, was recovered from a septic tank in Sylhet yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ward Councillor Nazrul Islam and his four associates were abducted in Narayanganj yesterday.  
Following the incident, followers of the councillor vandalised at least 12 vehicles at Signboard area on Dhaka-Narayanganj link road and blocked it for half an hour.
Police and Rab dispersed them by charging batons on them.
In Sylhet, police found the body of timber trader Abul Kashem, 50, from the septic tank of a house at Rayer Gaon around 3:00pm, said Ranjan Samanta, officer-in-charge of Dakkhin Surma Police Station.
The OC said Kashem's wife, Asma Khatun, got a phone call on Saturday from an anonymous person who told her that her husband was in that house.
The owner of the house is Masum Mia, who had rented it out to one Jahirul Islam, an acquaintance of the victim, three months ago, said Ranjan.  
Following Kashem's disappearance, Asma lodged an abduction case on Friday, accusing Jahirul and four others of committing the crime.
Sub-inspector Abdul Quader, who is the investigation officer of the case, said Kashem had lent Jahirul Tk 1 lakh a few months ago. When he asked for the money back, Jahirul asked him to go to Sylhet to get the money.
Kashem left home for Sylhet on April 22 and had been missing since.
Police suspect Jahirul over the killing. Jahirul and the other accused in the case are on the run.  
In Narayanganj, Nazrul Islam, councillor of ward 2, and his aides -- Tajul, Swapan, Liton and Jahangir, Nazrul's driver, were kidnapped from Adalatpara around 1:45pm.
They were leaving the court area after Nazrul, former general secretary of Narayanganj Chhatra League, got bail in a case, said Nazrul's wife Selina Islam.  
They were abducted along with the car. Police recovered the car in an abandoned condition at Rajendrapur in Gazipur around 9:00pm.
Selina claimed Nur Hossain, councillor of ward-4, and Haji Mohammad Yasin, general secretary of Siddhirganj unit of Awami League, were behind the abduction.
“They have rivalries with my husband. They picked him up. I want my husband back, safe and unhurt,” she said.
But Nur Hossain, also vice-president of Siddhirganj unit of AL, refuted the allegation.
Syed Nurul Islam, superintendent of Narayanganj Police, said the law enforcers were trying to rescue the abductees.
Nazrul is an accused in at least 15 cases. He was sentenced to death by a lower court in the advocate Babar Ali killing case, but was later acquitted by the High Court, he added.
Meanwhile, a Rab-1 team on Saturday night arrested nine people for abducting a college student on April 8 from the capital's airport area.
The arrested are Masud Rana, Mohammad Rajib, Mir Noman, Mofazzal Hossain, Ershad Ali, Abdur Razzak, Lebu Mia, Osman Gani and Sumaiya Sharmin.
Four of the arrestees kidnapped Mir Redwan Ahmed, a student at Milestone College in Uttara, while the five others were in the planning, said Rab Media Wing Director Habibur Rahman.
Of the arrestees, Noman is a cousin of the victim, he told a press briefing at the Rab headquarters yesterday.
The gang freed Redwan on April 11 upon receiving Tk 24 lakh in ransom.