PhD student held in city

Rab yesterday said they had the Bangladeshi PhD student at a South Korean University -- who had gone missing from the airport area before his flight on Wednesday -- in their custody.

The law enforcement agency said they arrested Enamul Haque Mony, 31, in Airport Railway Station area on charges of creating fake websites identical to those of different local media outlets and circulating false and “anti-government” news through them.

However, Mony's wife Nipa said her husband did not know how to create such fake sites. He had been in South Korea since 2012, she added. 

Nipa on Friday claimed Mony returned to their home in Pabna on October 23 and went missing on Wednesday night while on his way to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to catch a flight to South Korea.

She also claimed to have been called by an unknown person who demanded a ransom for releasing Mony, adding that she had sent the 'kidnapper'   Tk 1 lakh.

A general diary was filed with Dakkhin Khan Police Station in this regard on Thursday.

Mohiuddin Faruque, additional superintendent of Rab-2, however, said during his stay in South Korea, Mony created at least 22 such fake websites and got money for it.

Identical websites of Bangla daily Prothom Alo, online news portal banglatribune.com and BBC Bangla were created in September and October to spread fake news.

Mony was involved with Islami Chhatra Shibir, he said, adding, they investigated the forgery upon receiving complaints from the authorities of a newspaper.

Asked, Nipa claimed her husband was not involved with any political party.

Mony completed his master's from Bangladesh Agriculture University of Mymensingh and went to South Korean Kyungpook National University as a PhD researcher in 2012.