Bogra barrister, wife missing for 16 months
A barrister from Bogra and his wife along with their 18-month-old daughter have been missing since they left Bangladesh to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia some 16 months ago.
The three are AKM Takiur Rahman Sifat, son of Abdul Khaleque, a wealthy businessman from Kalitola area of Sadar upazila, and Sifat's wife Rijita Rayla, and their daughter Rumaisha.
The 30-year-old lawyer last contacted one of his relatives in July last year and said they were in Turkey and were alright, Khaleque told reporters at his home at Kalitola yesterday.
However, police and Sifat's relatives suspect they might have entered Syria, part of which is an Islamic State stronghold.
Khaleque said his son along with his wife and daughter used to live in the capital's Kalabagan area. They went to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah on April 4 last year.
Everyone had advised Sifat to perform Umrah later but he said it was the right time as some of his friends were also going to do so.
His father, however, could not say who the “friends” were or whether anyone indeed went with his son and his family.
On April 13 and 14 that year, Sifat called his father over the phone and said they would return home next week but they did not.
Khaleque then filed a general diary (GD) with Kalabagan Police Station on June 9.
Around a month later, Sifat called his brother-in-law Sadman over the phone and said he was staying with his family in Turkey and was doing well.
"We suspect that they might be in Turkey now. They also might have gone to Syria," Khaleque said.
An official from the Detective Branch (DB) of police in Bogra said they came to know about the disappearance of Sifat's family from his relatives.
Sifat's relatives had noticed some changes in his behaviour a few years before he went missing, said the official, wishing not to be named.
"We suspect that Sifat might have gone to Syria from Turkey. He may have joined the IS [Islamic State] too. But we are not sure about it," he said.
The Daily Star could not verify the claims independently.
Khaleque, owner of Rahmania Cloth Store in Bogra town, said Sifat was only a class-IV student when he was sent to Siliguri in the Indian state of West Bengal for studies.
He came back after his O-level examination in 2004.
Completing his A-level two years later, Sifat went to London to study law.
He returned in 2011 with a law degree, said the father.
"But we noticed a sudden change in his behaviour. He also started offering his prayers regularly something he never used to do before,” Khaleque said.
Back from India, Sifat used to have a very lavish lifestyle. He would hang around with friends most of the time.
On completion of his studies, Sifat started practicing law in Dhaka and worked as a part-time teacher at a private university, said Khaleque.
He married a retired army officer's daughter in Chittagong in December 2011 and used to live in their Lake Circus residence in Dhaka. Sifat last visited Bogra during the Eid-ul-Azha in 2014.
"I sent my son abroad for higher education at an early age so that he doesn't get addicted to drugs or have bad companies. But now, he has gone to the dogs and is missing,” added the father.
Amirul Islam, officer-in-charge of the DB in Bogra, told The Daily Star that they came to know about Sifat's disappearance recently while gathering information about missing people following the Gulshan terror attack.
Sifat's family members in Bangladesh were interrogated on Wednesday night, he said.
Contacted, Md Assaduzzman, superintendent of police in Bogra, said last night that they were investigating the matter “through their own sources”.
He declined to give details.
Talking to this correspondent, Sifat's grandfather Ayub-Uddowlla Benu said Sifat stayed away from his family from a very young age. His parents also had divorced.
"All these things might have prompted him to take the dark path of life,” he added.
Earlier, a couple along with their two daughters and a son-in-law reportedly went to war-ravaged Syria, leaving behind first-class government jobs, huge properties and a legacy of pride in Bangladesh.
The man, Rokonuddin Khondoker, a doctor of Dhaka Shishu Hospital, and his wife Naima Akhter, an associate professor of Botany of Jessore MM College, their daughters -- Rezwana Rokon Nadia and Ramita Rokon -- and Nadia's husband Saad Qayes Shishir left Bangladesh in July last year and law enforcement agencies are suspecting that the entire family was radicalised and is now living in Syria.
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