Farhad Mazhar 'rescued' in Jessore

Law enforcers tonight rescued columnist and writer Farhad Mazhar who allegedly went missing from Adabor in Dhaka earlier in the day, from a bus in Jessore.

Also READ: Govt agencies ‘kidnap’ Farhad, says BNP

Acting on a tip-off that Mazhar was travelling on a Dhaka-bound Hanif Paribahan bus from Khulna, law enforcers conducted a search inside the bus on the highway under Noapara Police Station around 11:30pm, Mufti Mahmud Khan, legal and media wing director of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), told The Daily Star.

A check post was set up to conduct searches on the highway in this regard, the Rab official said.   

Further details on rescuing Mazhar were not made available. Questions like why Mazhar was on the bus still remain unanswered.

Earlier, Rab said they were conducting drives in Khulna to rescue Farhad Mazhar as the columnist was traced there this evening hours into he went missing from Dhaka.

Mazhar was located in KDA Approach Road area of Khulna with the help of technology, Utpal Roy, company commander of Rab-6, told The Daily Star.

“We’re conducting drive in Khulna based on mobile-tracking information. We’re trying to find him out in the area,” Roy said.

Mazhar went out of his Adabar house around 5:00am, said Biplob Kumar Sarker, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, quoting his wife Farida Akter.

According to Farida, half an hour after Mazhar, also a researcher, went out of the house, he called her through his mobile phone and said, “Save me, they have kidnapped me. They will kill me”.

After receiving a verbal complaint, police visited his house and found a CCTV footage that shows Mazhar leaving the house around 5:07am “in normal gesture”, the police official said.

A general diary was filed with Adabor Police Station in connection with the incident, DC Biplob said.

Farida Akter, in the evening, addressed a press conference demanding to get back her husband safely.