The body to verify the two sergeants' claim yesterday interrogated them at Detective Branch office.

Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Faruq Ahmed, tasked with the probe, yesterday said, "I'm still interrogating them and will continue till tomorrow."

Asked about the line of interrogation, Faruq said he was quizzing the sergeants to be sure about, among other possibilities, involvement in illegal dealings. He added that hopefully, he would be able to elaborate on the incident today.

Faruq has been asked to submit report within 48 hours that end in the evening today.

The two sergeants, Asad and Monirul, who were allegedly abducted from Kafrul, were freed at Kachukhet Bazar on Thursday noon, 16 hours into their abduction, after Asad's brother Moniruzzaman paid a ransom of Tk 2 lakh.

Asad and Monirul were relieved of their duty on Thursday for absence from work and also for the 'suspicious' statement they made explaining the absence, said sources.

Sources said the two were asked why they used CNG-run three-wheeler instead of their motorbikes and why they went out in the evening in plainclothes while they had duty at night.

A Razarbagh Police Lines Hospital source yesterday said the doctors did not find any medical evidence to substantiate the sergeants' statement that a kind of ointment had been rubbed on their face to make them unconscious.

A police team, meanwhile, picked up Moniruzzaman from his house on road No. 2 in Shyamoli and took him to the DB office yesterday. The law enforcers asked Moniruzzaman how he managed Tk 2 lakh in such a short time and why he paid it without informing the police.

Faruq told The Daily Star that Monir had been released in the afternoon while Asad and Monirul were still at the DB office last night.

Sources said the hurried payment of the ransom money without informing the police had raised doubts about the sergeants' claim.

Some sources said the two might have been blackmailed for their involvement in anti-social activities.