BNP leader missing from city

BNP leader Anisur Rahman Talukder Khokon went missing from the city's Ramna area last night, his wife claimed.

Shah Israt Azmery alleged that a vehicle with a Rab sticker picked up her husband from in front of Ramna Hotel.

Khokon, mass education affairs assistant secretary of BNP's executive committee, remained missing for around three months after he had allegedly been picked up by the same force in 2015.

Talking to The Daily Star around midnight yesterday, Azmery said, "I called him around 10:00pm. He said he was in Gulistan and would return home soon. I told him to bring some essentials."

Fifteen minutes later, one of the aides of Khokon called Azmery and told her that a car with a sticker of Rab-3 took her husband away, she claimed.

"I came to know that Khokon was kept at Ramna Hotel for some time and Rab members took away the CCTV footage of the hotel while leaving," she said.

Azmery also said she went to the Rab-3 office at Tikatuli but the unit of the force denied picking up her husband.

The Daily Star tried to contact Rab Media Wing Director Mufti Mahmud Khan and Rab-3 commanding and operation officers over phone for comments, but none of them picked up the calls.

At a press briefing last night, BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Talukdar termed the incident alarming. He also alleged that Rab-3 picked up Khokon.

"Our lives have no security, the fear of death is haunting the leaders and activists of opposition," he told reporters.

Earlier on June 15, 2015, Khokon, a former organising sectary of Chhatra Dal's central unit, was found in Faridpur about three months after he had gone missing from the capital.

At that time, the Rab claimed that it had arrested Khokon along with two others in front of a restaurant on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in Faridpur Sadar upazila.

Khokon's family, however, alleged that Rab members had picked him up from his home on March 5 that year -- an allegation rejected by the force.