BANGLADESH

The body of an eight-year-old schoolboy was recovered on Tuesday, 45 days after he was abducted from Kashiani upazila in Gopalganj district.

Locals alleged that after the abduction, the police action to find out the boy was not satisfactory.

Mahfuzur Rhaman Mahfuz, who was kidnapped in the night of the holy Shab-e-Barat on July 5, was the son of an expatriate Rezaul Molla of Barashur village of the upazila, and a student of the Kashiani Railway Ekota Kindergarten.

His body was found in a garden beside their home on Tuesday.

After his abduction, some callers identifying them as kidnappers had demanded Tk 7 million as ransom from his mother Swapna Begum.

After recovering the body, police on Tuesday arrested five people for interrogation. However, the locals expressed their dissatisfaction with police over release of Shamim Sheikh, a major suspect behind the abduction, soon after his arrest.

After Mahfuz's abduction, his classmates along with the locals observed various protest programmes in the upazila town.

Apprehending that the agitated locals could attack the police station after recovering the body, the main entrance of the Kashiani Police Station was closed, and some senior high police officials from the district headquarters rushed there to tackle the situation.

Mahfuz's uncle Jafar Mollah told reporters that they had a land dispute with Shamim Sheikh of neighbouring Mukundapur village. Shamim and one Billal Sheikh might have committed the abduction to take revenge, he said.

Sub-Inspector of the Kashiani Police Station Nizamuddin said that Mahfuz went missing after he left for the nearest mosque to offer special Shab-e-Barat prayer on July 5.

The victim's family told police that a group of people, including Hossain and Saddam, had abducted the child upon instigation from Shamim and Billal.

Jafar Mollah said Sub-Inspector Ful Mia arrested main suspect Shamim Sheikh on the next day of the abduction, but released him later, thus helping the other accused to go into hiding.

Refuting the allegation, Officer-in-Charge of the Kashiani Police Station Syed Mannan Ali said they had arrested five people, including Bellal, Hossain and Saddam, following the abduction. "They also gave confessional statement in the court."

He, however, admitted that they failed to find out the child despite conducting operations at various places upon the information given by them.

A lawyer has withdrawn a case he had filed against RAB personnel seven months back, accusing the force of abducting his son, after getting his trace.

Metropolitan magistrate Roksana Begum Happy on Monday accepted the case withdrawal application by Md Khabiruddin.

Khabiruddin lodged the case on May 31 accusing that two RAB, two jail officials and four other unknown people abducted his son Toufique Hasan, a second-year student of Stamford University.

The officials are RAB-10 deputy director Mohammad Harun and flight lieutenant Mohammad Imon, Dhaka Central Jail senior jailer Touhidul Islam and deputy jailer Md Imran Hossan.

Toufique was arrested along with two others with posters of banned Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir on Feb 22 from the city's Siddheshwari Balur Math area. A case was filed against the three with the Ramna Police Station the same day under anti-terrorism law.

A number of people were picked up by plain-clothes people identifying themselves to be RAB personnel late last year from different parts of the country. Bodies of some of them were found later, prompting human rights organisations to express concern.

RAB, however, denied their involvement in any 'secret killing'.

'NO SATISFACTORY ANSWER'

Khabiruddin in his case withdrawal application said he found his son attending his (Toufique's) grandma's death anniversary programme at Teghoria village in Manikganj district on Dec 26.

He told : "When I asked my son about his mission, I did not get any satisfactory answer from him."

He said Toufique is now with his mother at a Siddeshwari apartment.

Khabiruddin said in the case that following the arrest, his son had secured bail on May 13 but RAB personnel, in plain clothes, had picked him up from the jail gate.

"A group of four to five people dragged Toufique into a microbus as soon as he came out of the jail at 10pm," he said.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka had ordered departmental investigation into the abduction.