Two more \\\'disappearances\\\'add to Narayanganj trauma

FE Team | Published: May 03, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Saiful Islam

FE Report
Two more disappearances, including that of a businessman, took place in the abduction-scared Narayanganj district over the last three days, police said.
Two general diaries (GDs) were lodged with Siddhirganj Police Station in connection with the two missing incidents on Friday, triggering serious anxieties among the people living in the area.
The fresh incidents of disappearance were reported a day after the recovery of seven bodies, who were earlier abducted from the area. The bodies were recovered from the Shitalakkhya river.
The latest incident of disappearance sparked demonstration in the form of road blockade at Sanarpar area on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, demanding public security and safe return of the victim.
One of the 'missing' persons, a businessman, was identified as Saiful Islam (36), owner of Lamiya Super Store, located at Sona Mia Market in Sanarpar.
Confirming the incidents, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the police station Abdul Matin said family members of the disappeared person filed a general diary (GD) with his police station in the morning.
Citing the GD, the police officer said the victim had gone out of his Siddhirganj residence on business purpose around 9pm Thursday.
"Since then, he remains missing," the OC quoted the GD as saying. "We're giving full efforts to rescue Islam unhurt and several of our teams have been working hard in this regard," he added.
It was also mentioned in the GD that someone had made a call to Hannan, manager of the department store, at about 2:30am Friday and demanded ransom in exchange of safe return of the businessman.
"But the exact amount of the demanded ransom was not mentioned in the GD," Sub-Inspector (SI) of the police station Aminul Islam said.
Talking to reporters in the morning, Sadia Afrin, wife of the businessman, said her husband had gone out of their Siddhirganj residence for the department store at about 5pm Thursday.
"My husband left the shop at about 9pm for collecting money from a shop owner. Since then, he is missing," she said.
She also claimed that someone had made a call to Hannan, the manager of the store, and demanded a ransom of Tk 1.0 million "for the businessman's release".
In the afternoon, police detained the superstore manager for questioning.
When contacted, superintendent of police (SP) of the district Khandaker Mohid Uddin said they have launched an enquiry, keeping the mobile phone call in focus.
"Our officials are now dealing with the technology to track down the source of the call. Hopefully, we'll be able to recover the businessman unhurt," he added.
When asked, he said they have already found some leads during the interrogation, but he denied sharing the information for the sake of investigation.
As the news of the 'disappearance' spread in the area in the morning, several hundred people, including businessmen of the locality, took to the streets in Sanarpar area at about 11am, demanding immediate rescue of the kidnapped businessman.
The protesters also halted vehicular movement on the country's most important economic corridor Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, for more than an hour.
Following assurance of rescuing the businessman, the demonstrators later withdrew their programme and gave an ultimatum to the administration for rescuing Saiful Islam by 6pm.
They threatened to go for a tougher movement if the law enforcers failed to rescue Saiful by this evening.
As their ultimatum passed off with no visible progress, the protesters came again onto the streets and clashed with the law enforcers in the late evening.
Police dispersed them by lobbing teargas shells, leaving some of them with minor injuries.
Meanwhile, another complaint of 'missing' was lodged with the same police station on the day as the accounts officer of a buying house remained missing since Tuesday morning.
Sources at the police station said the GD had stated that Siddhirganj resident Touhidur Rahman (33), who works for Q Point Fashions Limited located in the capital's Mirpur area, had gone missing minutes after he left for his office in Dhaka.
The GD said the mobile phone set of the victim had been found switched off after the incident of disappearance.
The Narayanganj district has been under media spotlight for the last few weeks following an alarming rise in the incidents of abduction there.
At least 10 people went missing in the last 15 days in the district.
Among them, only Abu Bakar Siddique, husband of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan, returned safely, while the bodies of seven other abducted persons, including panel mayor of NCC (Narayanganj City Corporation) Nazrul Islam and lawyer Chandan Sarker were found in the Shitalkkhya river on Wednesday.